Sri Lanka must rethink of strategy — Maharoof
Sr i Lanka was comprehensively beaten in India
Call to bring back seniors in the likes of Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and even Dimuth Karunaratne into the ODI side is growing every passing day as Sri Lanka concluded a heavy loss to India in the recent tour.
The batting unit failed to perform to expectations so much that the general public have started to believe that Sri Lanka could do well with some of the dropped seniors making a comeback in the ODI format. Mathews and Karunaratne have been repeatedly overlooked in white-ball format as selectors continued to experiment with youngsters to build a team for the future.
“It’s time to rethink the strategy,” said Fraveez Maharoof, former Sri Lanka all-rounder turned commentator.
“I am not criticizing the selection policy, but with a World Cup in hand, I think we need to rethink our strategy. Bring at least one or two seniors, particularly Mathews and Chandimal. Their experience will be of great support to the team”.
Mathews, the former captain, has the best average among current players (41.67) but he last represented Sri Lanka in coloured jersey in March 2021.
“I think we have done reasonably well in the T20 format during the last 20 months or so, but we need to admit that our performances in ODI cricket is below par.”
“One area, we need to look at is our batting in ODI cricket. None of the top order batters made an impression during the tour and this hurt us a lot. When you are chasing 350 plus totals, you need your batters to fire from all cylinders. However they have let us down and this is why I say we need at least one or two seniors in the side to stabilise the inning,” he explained.
Maharoof also highlighted the fact that Sri Lanka seems to have a lot of confidence in T20 Internationals when compared to the 50-over format, which is a fair observation upon analyzing the performance during the Indian tour. Dasun Shanaka and his team had an opportunity to create history as they had a chance to beat India on their own backyard. Their hopes of winning a series in India was shattered after Suryakumar Yadav smashed 112 runs off 51 balls which enabled India to win the series 2-1.
Even though Sri Lanka lost the series, the pendulum had swung towards both the teams. For an instance, in the first T20I in Mumbai, Sri Lanka fell agonisingly short by two runs, while they were chasing a target of 163 runs.
Maharoof felt that it was unfortunate that Sri Lanka missed out the chance of winning the first T20i. Sri Lanka required 13 runs in the final over. Unfortunately Chamika Karunaratne opted to leave two deliveries bowled by Axar Patel outside the off stump as he misjudged them as wide balls. The former all-rounder regarded that incident as an error of judgment. That incident was a decisive moment in the series, which eventually cost them the series.
The second T20i in Pune was a rare occasion where the top order was consistent and eventually Sri Lanka won the game by 16 runs. Leading into the series, there were doubts regarding the role of the skipper Dasun Shanaka. Over the years India has been his favourite opponent. He has scored 378 runs at an average of 37.80 in 16 T20i matches, his highest average against any opposition in T20 internationals. He scored the fastest half century by a Sri Lankan against India.
Maharoof feels that Shanaka has to take responsibility and contribute more as an all-rounder, especially as bowler. Throughout the tour he had bowled only nine overs — one over in T20s and eight overs in ODIs.
“It’s important that Shanaka bowls more overs as tougher challengers lie ahead including the New Zealand tour, Asia Cup and the World Cup in India.”
As a consequence of the team’s brittle batting performances from the top order over the past few years, the middle order and the lower order batters have been unable to concentrate on their given roles. Therefore power-hitters including Dasun Shanaka, Chamika Karunaratne and Wanidu Hasaranga had to restrain themselves from playing according to their instincts. On most occasions they had to accumulate runs rather than concentrating on their given roles as finishers.
Top order batters Dananjaya de Silva and Charith Asalanka, who played both formats, did not live up to the expectations of the selectors. Especially Dananjaya de Silva, who has played 65 ODIs with an average of 26.28, as a senior player he should take responsibility to stabilize the inconsistent batting lineup.
Maharoof urged the batters to take responsibility and their statistics give a clear illustration of the declining consistency in ODI cricket. Spinners are known to be the trump cards for Sri Lanka across all three formats, mainly with Wanindu Hasaranga leading the bowling attack in the last few years. He has been an integral member for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL last year. Ironically he was unable to replicate his heroics during the entire tour.
The Indian batters had worked on a method to counter varying challenges and they were aware about the fact that the Sri Lanka bowling attack was relatively inexperienced. So they were wise enough to prevent Hasaranga from taking wickets. On the other hand Maheesh Theekshana, who has been a permanent member in the team since the South Africa tour since 2021, was excluded from the ODI series. Maharoof said that he was stunned by Theekshana’s omission, also noting that it was not a wise decision to exclude a player like him with the World Cup on the horizon.
Sri Lanka had opted for a relatively inexperienced fast bowling attack which included Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara and Dilshan Madushanka. The Indian top order did not hesitate to punish them and went on to score centuries. Sri Lanka conceded more than 300 runs on two occasions in the ODI series but Sri Lanka were unable to challenge India with the bat.
Debutant Nuwanidu Fernando’s counter attacking half century can be considered as the standout performance in the ODI series. Mohammed Siraj kept the Lankan batters on their toes as he claimed nine wickets at an average of 10.22.
For Sri Lanka, Kasun Rajitha claimed six wickets at an average of 35.83. It’s fair to say that India have taught Sri Lanka a harsh lesson ahead of the World Cup. Shanaka and his team will have to regain the confidence and move forward as Sri Lanka require at least 20 crucial points to keep their hopes of direct qualification or else they will have a bumpy road ahead and will have to play the qualifiers in Zimbabwe, from where only two slots are guaranteed for the showpiece event in India.