Hathurusingha upbeat about Lankan cricket despite setbacks
In spite of all seeming reversals, Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) Head Coach Chandika Hathurusinghe is confident he can turn around the flagging cricket unit.
Hathurusinghe told the Sunday Times, “I took up this challenge knowing well what to expect and what was ahead of me. If I had an iota of a doubt, I wouldn’t have taken it up.”
The Lankan coach added it was only a matter of infusing the needed confidence into the unit, and he has no doubts about the skill levels of the Lankan cricketers.
“Two cricketers who have blossomed lately are all-rounders Thisara Perera and Dasun Shanaka. Both are growing in confidence and improving by the game,”he said.
Pointing out that Dasun Shanaka, in particular, has taken a huge leap forward, he said he felt Shanaka could give a good run to the presently vacant No.4 position in the ODI lineup. “Shanaka batted remarkably well during the South African tour and also batted very impressively during the ongoing Mercantile Cricket tournament. Besides that, I watched him scoring a blistering T-20 century which depicts only good vibes.When I was coaching Bangladesh, Mohamadulla Riyad never batted higher than No 7. But, I gave him the opportunity to bat higher in the order, and he reciprocated with three centuries during the ICC World Cup series played in Australia,”he said.
However, the coach also feels that injured Dhanushka Gunatilleke is a cricketer that he could put his money on. He said, “Dhanushka is one of the best opening batsmen we have, who has the ability to strike the ball effectively. I think, if he could iron out his present problems, he is an asset to the side, as he also has the ability to bowl a few overs of off-spin.”
The former Tamil Union all-rounder Hathurusinghe who found a new lease of cricketing life once moving Down Under and subsequently to Bangladesh, says that he has no qualms about the batting strengths and abilities in the run-up to the 2019 World Cup in England. He said fielding is one of the departments that he and his team of coaches are concerned about, in the short term and the long term, and added, “Besides that, I feel that we should always have four specialist bowlers in the unit. It is a must in the winning formula”.