‘Swim or sink’ – the Lankan young bunch at the deep end
View(s):The one-off T20 at Pallekelle
Daminda Wijesuriya
reporting from Pallekele
New players ensemble, including the T20 captain Dinesh Chandimal, have been thrown into the deep end as Sri Lanka take on Bangladesh in their one off T-20 international at Pallekele this afternoon.
Allrounder Sachithra Senanayake (L) will be a probable in today’s game between the Lions and Tigers.
World’s number one team in T20 international cricket, Sri Lanka, is in a must win situation, against Bangladesh, to keep their top spot in the ICC rankings. The million dollar question is whether Dinesh Chandimal and his crew will be able to maintain the standards of what their seniors have done in this shortest version of international cricket.
Sri Lanka is resting its seasoned campaigners in the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, T. M. Dilshan, Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Herath and may be even hard hitting allrounder, Thisara Perera, could be rested to pave the way for another youngster.
There are six new faces in the Sri Lanka squad and the chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya is of the view that it’s high time to induce young blood to the national team.
“We have to give the opportunity to players like Kithruwan (Vithanage), Thisara (Perera), Angelo (Perera) and Sachithra (Senanayake),”
“Sachithra hasn’t got opportunities in T20 but we have to give him a fare chance” said Jayasuriya.
According to the chairman of selectors, they have brought few players into the T20 squad on their ability to clear the boundary, which is a handy tool in this form of the game.
Sri Lanka leads the 11 member list of ICC rankings in T20 cricket and ninth-ranked Bangladesh is 47 ratings points below the hosts.
However, a loss would mean Sri Lanka losing five ratings points and slip a step behind the second-ranked West Indies.
Even Sri Lanka’s defeat in the World T20 finals against West Indies last year didn’t pull them down and the consistency of Mahela Jayawardane and his men kept them atop in the rankings for more than six months.
This is a huge pressure for a skipper, who is leading the national team for the first time.
“I am really honoured to be the captain of the Sri Lankan team. It gives me a lot of pride, and it’s exciting. I like challenges, and we’ll look forward to do the right things.” Chandimal said at the pre match press conference.
Despite not having the seniors around him, Chandimal is optimistic. “We’ve got a good young and we are confident. It’s a challenge because they don’t have the international experience, but we’ll see tomorrow” Chandimal said
Sri Lanka’s hopes mainly rely on Dilshan Munaweera and Kusal Janith Perera, who has raised the eye brows of quite a few international bowlers during the recent past.
However, one advantage that Bangladeshis have is that their playing experience in the last year SLPL. “Yes, I know couple of players because I played in the SLPL last year. So I know them pretty well. Also there are some players who played against us in the warm up matches. We know quite a bit of them and let’s see how it goes tomorrow” said Bangladesh skipper, Mushfiqur Rahim.
According to the visiting captain, the wicket looks solid for batting and it’s going to be a high scoring game, provided rain doesn’t interfere.
| Sri Lanka Squad Kusal Janith Perera, Dilshan Munaweera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal (Captain/wk), Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Kithruwan Withanage, Angelo Perera, Lasith Malinga (VC), Sachithra Senanayake, Shaminda Eranga, Chathuranga De Silva, Shehan Jayasooriya, Ramith Rambukwella, Ishan Jayaratne and Thisara Perera Bangladesh Squad Mushfiqur Rahim, Abdur Razzak, Abul Hasan, Jahurul Islam, Mahamadullah, Mohammed Ashraful, Mominul Haque, Mosharraf Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Shamsur Rahaman, Sohag Gazi and Ziaur Rahman. Umpires: Tyronne Wijewardena and Ruchira Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka) |
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