Watch: Australian players applaud as Sri Lankan fans thank the visitors for coming amidst crisis
The conclusion of the fifth and final ODI between hosts Sri Lanka and Australia on Friday (June 24) paved way to some of the most heartening scenes one would've witnessed on a cricket field.
The Lankan fans cheered for the visitors after the match as a mark of gratitude for coming despite them having just defeated the home side to earn a consolation victory.
A jam-packed crowd present at the iconic Premadasa Stadium gave a wonderful reception to the Aussies, who in turn took a round of the ground and appreciated the healthy spirit of the people of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankans cheer for Australia, express gratitude for coming
Loud cheers of "Australia! Australia!!" reverberated around the ground as the passionate cricket lovers of the Island nation thanked the tourists for arriving on their shores in a period of turmoil within the country.
The beautiful moment was captured in a clip by cricket.com.au, which also recorded the immediate reactions by the players involved.
In the clip, one could see that the likes of skipper Aaron Finch, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell among others were soaking in the atmosphere inside the ground and just feeling great to be appreciated in such a wholehearted manner by people of the opposite country.
"We're generally the enemy" 😅
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) June 24, 2022
The scenes in Colombo after the fifth ODI were unreal and left Glenn Maxwell and the Aussies stunned as fans thanked them for touring 🥰 #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/Xugt5KVmyX
"We're generally the enemy" 😅
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) June 24, 2022
The scenes in Colombo after the fifth ODI were unreal and left Glenn Maxwell and the Aussies stunned as fans thanked them for touring 🥰 #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/Xugt5KVmyX
Maxwell later called the reactions from the Sri Lankan crowd "extraordinary", with them loudly cheering for the visitors and expressing a deeper sense of gratitude for fulfilling their touring commitments so far.
While the Test match leg of the tour remains, the Sri Lankans would always be grateful of the Australians for going ahead with the limited-overs section of the series, featuring three T20Is and five ODIs, given the times.
Sri Lanka is going through its worst economical crisis ever, with citizens and prominent personalities joining hands in protest against a rigid political regime that failed to address their concerns before implementing its policies.
Those protests had threatened to make Australians wary of coming, especially with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) feeling the heat and having to struggle to keep the tour alive and going.
Historically, the Aussies have been the first to run off a touring commitment if there is any security threat or looming discomfort. But they nodded in agreement to the trip and gave the people of Sri Lanka a reason to smile amidst a period of dismay.