T20 World Cup: Injuries, only a blessing in disguise – Asst Coach Nawaz

Despite Sri Lanka battered and bruised by injuries, their assistant coach Naveed Nawaz only saw it as a window of opportunity for another player to fill in and gain the World Cup exposure.

The 2014 champions have been coping with a spate of injuries, as many as half-a-dozen of them, making them the side with the most number of casualties. The latest, was an injury cover himself seamer Binura Fernando, not even completing his opening over in SL’s last outing against Australia.

“Not exactly. This is something that we cannot control, and I think it's an opportunity for a new guy to come in and play. The spirits are pretty high,” he told reporters ahead of their next match against New Zealand, which would be on Saturday.

“The hopes are still there for us to take our opportunity to make it to the semifinals. We're all very well motivated and still looking forward to the rest of the tournament”.

The assistant coach also hoped, if the middle-order fires, their bases are all covered.

“Yeah, if you look at all the games that we played, the top order has batted through, and there was very few overs at the end for the late order and the middle order”.

“We need them (Dasun Shanaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Wanindu Hasaranga) to come out with their hands up at the right moment. Although they are short of overs, there are a very limited number of overs for them to go out there and show what they can do, I think they will come up -- there's nothing to say that they're out of form or they're out of nick or anything like that, but I think when the moment arises, they'll definitely come into the game and show us what they can do”, he backed.  

Shedding light on their plans against the Kiwis, at the Sydney wicket, he said, “If it's a good batting wicket and a fast outfield, obviously the runs are there for taking. Yeah, we need to go with a different game plan on a pitch like this”. Adding that, “I think Sydney is a very favorable venue for Sri Lanka. It has been throughout the years, and we are looking forward to this game against New Zealand”.