World T20 in focus
Celebrations for Sri Lankans after a long lapse
After widespread criticism following on and off-field dramas by national cricketers, the win on Friday against India was like manna from heaven–regardless of how depleted the Indians were going into the third and final ODI.
India made six changes to the playing XI, introducing as many as five debutants to test their bench strength only to end on the losing side. Sri Lanka surrendered the series 2-1 but the spirit with which they fought the match earned them much praise.
The focus is now on the three-match T20 series starting this evening at the R. Premadasa Stadium, a venue that will host the three-match series against the neighbouring nation. The Friday’s win, the first in 11 attempts against India, will give much confidence to a team that has battled issues on and off-field ranging from atrocious performances, a pay dispute to issues of discipline and fitness ahead of the T20 opener.
“The win last night (Friday) was great and we were very close in the second game. That shows continuous improvement, but still, we have a long way to go,” said Head Coach Mickey Arthur, at the pre-match presser.
Sri Lanka is still far from being a finished product and Arthur knows well that the road to consistency is long and hard for the islanders.
“We know we are not near where we want to be but the improvement and the journey is getting more and more exciting. I couldn’t be happier with our progress, but I am also very realistic about where we stand and how much effort we need to put in,” he pointed.
Arthur is particularly impressed with the players like Wanindu Hasaranga–who he confirmed will take the field on Sunday despite the injury concerns–Chamika Karunaratne, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Avishka Fernando and Dushmantha Chameera. He expects them to perform consistently.
Dasun Shanaka will lead his inexperienced charges for the first time in a T20 since his triumphant debut as T20 captain in 2019, hoping they can tame the marauding visitors but the larger focus will be on identifying potential players to make it to the World Cup in 84 days. Since the Shanaka-led team trounced Pakistan 3-0, Sri Lanka has lost all five of their last T20 series.
But to beat India in T20s, Sri Lanka needs some jaw-dropping performances as the tourists have mastered the art of the shorter format, thanks to the exposure they gain in the Indian Premier League. Sri Lanka have been forced to play in the qualifiers for the World T20 tournament late this year in UAE and will look for players who can potentially earn their places for the World Cup.
“This is the last opportunity for guys to stake a claim,” said Arthur, when asked whether he has got the players who would go to the World Cup.
“I and selectors are very clear with what we are going to do. We’re going to try out some players in the next three games. Then we have the South African series and plus two months of just working with 17 or 18 players that we would take to the World Cup,” he said.
Having hit a record low in the format (ranked 10 in the world), Sri Lanka is among six teams fighting in a qualifying tournament to grab one of the four remaining slots in the main tournament. Sri Lanka is grouped with Ireland and Papua New Guinea in the qualifying round.
Following the Indian series, Sri Lanka Cricket will organise a four-team local T20 tournament to open doors to fringe players, including experienced campaigners like, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Seekkuge Prasanna, Asela Gunaratne, Angelo Perera and Ashan Priyanjan to earn a place in the T20 squad that would potentially play South Africa before heading for the qualifiers.
Unlike players across the globe, Sri Lankans neither have a regular domestic T20 league, nor they are being roped in by professional leagues around the world to feature in league cricket–a key reason why they have struggled to up their game in the format.
The cold stats show that Sri Lanka has gone past the 150-run mark only thrice in their last 10 T20 Internationals when teams like India, whom Sri Lanka is currently involved with, are regularly hitting the 180-run mark. This has been the missing link but Arthur says Sri Lanka should find a way to win matches with the resources it has, as Pakistan has done.
“We have Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga and Chamika Karunaratne. That’s what we’ve got at the moment,” he says. “I had the same problem when I coached Pakistan. Everybody said we didn’t have power-hitters and we didn’t. But we found a way of winning that is applicable to the resources we have. Does that mean getting ourselves to 150, 160 but knowing that we can defend that total in these conditions with our attacking spin and dynamic fielding and etc. So those are things that will sort out during this series. Then we head to South Africa (series), two months before the world cup, we will have a very good settled T20 team, everyone exactly knowing what their roles are.”
Arthur reveals that team is working on power hitting during training sessions but they are yet to master the art.
“We’ve got to do with what we have and with the best of our resources,” he said.
| Probable Sri Lanka XI: Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka (wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (Capt), Wanindu Hasaranga, Ramesh Mendis/Isuru Udana, Dhananjaya Lakshan/Ashen Bandara, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Akila DananjayaProbable India XI: Shikhar Dhawan (Capt), Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan (wk), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Rahul Chahar/Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal | |