Sri Lankan batters struggle against Aussie spinners

Sri Lanka are undoubtedly the underdogs in the ongoing T20I series against Australia. The side is transitioning into a new phase in its development and were expected to struggle, in some facets, against the now defending T20 world champions Australia.

Despite being second-best in most facets of the game, Sri Lanka still would've been expected to compete well while batting against spin bowling. Batters from the island nation carry a reputation for being fine players of spin due to the nature of their home conditions, as well as the quality of domestic spinners.

However, in the first three T20Is against Australia, the statistics show that Sri Lanka have struggled even in that department of the game.

In every bilateral T20I series with three or more games involving Sri Lanka, they have never recorded a lower batting average or lower run rate against spin than in this current series.

Their batting average against spin in this series is just a tick under 10, while their run rate is just under five.

In three matches, they have lost seven wickets from 14 overs of spin faced, only scoring 70 runs (just three fours). Additionally, they have been very tentative against spin bowling, attacking just 41% of the time, compared to 59% against seam bowling.

Adam Zampa leads the way against Sri Lanka

The main culprit for their woes is Adam Zampa, who has continued his stellar form from the recent T20 World Cup where he was unlucky to miss out on the man of the tournament award. In the first two matches of the series, he picked up 18/3 and 26/1 (following on from 12/2 taken against them in the World Cup).

But the issues didn't end there. Other Australian spinners Glenn Maxwell and Ashton Agar have bowled five overs between them in the series, which has yielded a solemn 17 runs at an economy rate of 3.4.

"They're relentless, aren't they. There's not too many options against that attack," cricket journalist Peter Lalor said on the Cricket Etc. podcast.

Australia lead the series 3-0, having wrapped it up in Canberra earlier in the week.

Such is the nature of international cricket, Agar, Maxwell and even Zampa have proven their credentials to be taken on Test tours throughout Asia this year in white-ball fixtures.