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Josh Hazlewood and David Warner starred in Australia's Twenty20 thrashing of Sri Lanka, but Mitchell Starc suffered a finger injury and will miss Game 2.
Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc will miss the second of three Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka after suffering a finger injury in the opening-game win.
Starc cut the index finger of his bowling hand on his shoe spike during the opening over of the 10-wicket thrashing at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
The 32-year-old left-armer required on-field treatment but managed to complete his four-over spell and claimed 3-26.
"It was a strange one," fellow quick and player-of-the-match Josh Hazlewood told cricket.com.au.
"Once his left leg came back through, he clipped it on the spike, so he's got a little cut on his bowling finger.
"He was allowed to strap it tonight being an external blow in this game (but) can't strap it (Wednesday) night so that might cause a few problems."
Starc's injury opens the door for Jhye Richardson's return to international cricket after his namesake Kane was preferred in the series opener.
Medical staff will assess Starc, who will hope to be available for the third match of the series in Kandy on Saturday night.
On Tuesday, Hazlewood again showed why he is one of the world's best white-ball bowlers, taking 4-16 as the hosts collapsed from 1-100 to be all-out for 128.
The 31-year-old silenced the home fans with a three-wicket burst in the 14th over as Sri Lanka lost 4-3 and then 9-28.
Openers David Warner (70 not out) and Aaron Finch (61no) backed up Hazlewood's dominance, powering Australia to 0-101 in the 12th over before heavy rain set in to force players off the field for almost an hour.
After play resumed, Finch guided a six to third man for the winning runs with 36 balls to spare.
"Josh was outstanding with the ball, he was very good through the IPL and he's started well here," Warner said.
"It was a great start, we had a couple of lead-in days with training and it's very hot and humid over here."
Finch was given out lbw in the first over and he successfully reviewed the decision, going onto carve out his best T20I score since March 2021.
The Lions made a promising start after Finch won the toss and bowled first.
Hazlewood began the rout by dismissing dangerous Danushka Gunathilaka (26) in the fifth over.
Gunathilaka's opening partner Pathum Nissanka (36) combined for a 61-run stand with Charith Asalanka (38) as the pair looked comfortable at the crease.
Asalanka crashed a giant six into the scoreboard off Richardson, and he was dropped on the boundary by Steve Smith.
But Hazlewood was brought back on to continue his dominance of Sri Lanka, after starring in Australia's 4-1 series win on home soil in February.
Hazlewood's transformation into a feared limited-overs bowler has been nothing short of extraordinary.
He missed selection in Australia's 2019 ODI World Cup squad and seemed to have been pigeon-holed as a Test specialist.
But he was a leading figure as Chennai Super Kings won the 2021 Indian Premier League title and took that form into the T20 World Cup where he took 3-16 in the final.
