‘Zampa was terrific’

David Warner's return to form was the icing on the cake as Australia thumped Sri Lanka by seven wickets on Thursday for their second successive victory at the Twenty20 World Cup.

Chasing the only major global trophy to elude them, Australia restricted Sri Lanka to 154-6 at the Dubai International Stadium.

When they returned, Warner, aided by some luck, made 65 as Australia chased down the target with three overs to spare to join Ashes rivals England as the only two teams in Group I with a perfect record.

Earlier, Finch won the toss and elected to field against 2014 world champions Sri Lanka.

Pat Cummins dismissed opener Pathum Nissanka early but Sri Lanka finished the six powerplay overs at 53-1 looking on course for a big total on a batting-friendly track.

For Australia, Adam Zampa (2-12) and Mitchell Starc (2-27) applied the brakes by claiming four wickets between them.

"Sri Lanka got away to a flyer with the bat and the way that Adam Zampa, in particular, was able to drag that back through the middle, and then Mitchell Starc to have a real impact ... he was fantastic," Australia captain Aaron Finch said.

Zampa was adjudged player-of-the-match for his tidy four overs which included 12 dot balls.

"As a batter, I love batters getting [Player-of-the-Match] but I think when you're looking at the impact on a game, Zampa was terrific tonight. On the back of a really good Powerplay from Sri Lanka, the way that he controlled the game, especially from that bottom end where the right-handers had a short boundary to hit to, he was fantastic. He got big wickets," added Finch.

"I think it was quite slow in the first innings and spun a bit more than it did in the second innings. I think the moisture and dew took effect in the second innings. I find [Sri Lanka] really challenging, very good players of spin so I'm glad to have the night I did," said Zampa.

"We got the start that we really needed but in the middle phase we were not able to capitalise," Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said. "I felt we were 25-30 runs short on that wicket."

Finch made 37 while Steve Smith, unbeaten on 28, also manoeuvred the ball around with characteristic deftness to frustrate Sri Lanka.