Rejuvenated Sri Lanka eye semis; potential change in top order
Sri Lanka could consider a change for their sixth World Cup group fixture against Afghanistan tomorrow as they continue the hunt for a reliable opening partnership.
Pathum Nissanka, with four consecutive half centuries, has shown strong defiance with the bat but his senior partner Kusal Janith Perera has failed to live up to the billing, forcing the team management to make a change for the Afghanistan game.
Perera’s miserable scoring continued on Thursday when the left-handed opener was dismissed for four in Sri Lanka’s clinical 8-wicket win over England. He has been the weak link for Sri Lanka with the usually aggressive opener only reaching double figures once in five attempts.
A semblance of his former self did emerge when Perera made 78 off 83 balls against Australia. It was his best knock so far. But he managed only 16 runs off his other four innings (7, 0, 5 and 4).
The team management is now deliberating bringing in Test opener Dimuth Karunaratne in a bid to inject stability into the top of the order.
Karunaratne was in cracking form during the World Cup Qualifier, scoring 369 off seven innings, but managed just 53 runs off four innings at the Asia Cup. With Perera coming back to the side after recovering from his shoulder injury, the former Sri Lanka ODI skipper lost his place in the playing XI, although he remains with the squad as the back-up opener.
Karunaratne was seen at the nets right through. He sweated it out at the Pune Stadium even yesterday afternoon, to be ready to walk into the side if and when required. Apart from this, the rest of the playing XI will remain the same as Sri Lanka is looking to continue with the winning momentum in the remaining four matches.
Dimuth Karunaratne is likely to open tomorrow - Pix courtey Sameera Peiris in Pune
For this, Sri Lanka will hope their captain, Kusal Menids, joins the party. He had started the tournament with gusto, hitting a half century (76) and century (122) in the first two games but has since sunk, with his next three innings fetching 31 runs (9, 11 and 11).
Another big letdown has been Dhananjaya de Silva, the all-rounder, whose contribution so far has been 11, 25, 7 and 30 with the bat. With his off-spin, he has barely troubled opposition batters. But with very little options left in the squad, Sri Lanka will retain him in the playing XI.
Sri Lanka employed three frontline seamers against England and that ploy paid rich dividends as the seamers, led by Lahiru Kumara, ripped through the English batting unit.
Accordingly, Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka and Kasun Rajitha will man the seam attack with Angelo Mathews expected to fill the part time seam option. Mathews played a key role in Sri Lanka’s victory over England as his first over in more than three years, made the breakthrough in English innings. He finished with figures of 2 for 14.
“It’s going to be an extremely challenging game for us,” Mathews said of Afghanistan.
“They have made good progress over the last couple of years. They’ve got tremendous players and a very experienced bowling attack. Mohammed Nabi and Rashid Khan are very experienced guys having played a lot of leagues around the world. So, they know exactly how to finish off a game, so we have to be on our ‘A’ game to beat Afghanistan. They are never a rollover for any team. And they’ve shown that in this world cup as well”.
Mathews said following Thursday’s crushing win over England that the confidence levels are high within the camp and they are looking to carry with the momentum.
“We played some good cricket but you know, we’ve made some mistakes. Then we picked up momentum from the Netherlands game and then England. We are hoping to carry it forward in the next games as well as all the other games. It’s difficult but a doable task,” the former skipper said, on the sideline of the team’s practice session at the Pune Cricket Stadium.
After tomorrow’s clash against Afghanistan, Sri Lanka will meet hosts India in Mumbai on Thursday before heading to Delhi to play against Bangladesh on November 6. Their final first round game will be against New Zealand in Bengaluru on November 9.
Sri Lanka started the tournament poorly, enduring three straight defeats — against South Africa, Pakistan and Australia — but have played with purpose and much energy in the last two games, beating Netherlands and defending champions England.
The only way Sri Lanka can join the last four will be by winning all remaining games and, as Mathews, who returned to the side after a long snub from the ODI cricket said, they have to play the ‘A’ game that they executed perfectly against England on Thursday.