Decisive year of white-ball cricket await SL cricketers

The Sri Lanka cricket team led by Kusal Perera (extreme right) during a practice session at the National Cricket Academy grounds – Dhaka in preparation for the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh which begins on 23 May

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq 

Following a period of inactivity at the height of COVID-19 last year, Sri Lanka cricketers have started to catch up on lost time, and commencing from the present tour of Bangladesh where they are scheduled to play a three-match ODI series, the rest of the year is going to be crucial to their chances of qualifying for a place in the Super 12s stage of the ICC T20 World Cup that is scheduled to be held in India from 18 October-15 November, while at the same time, they will also be playing nine ODI matches, the results of which will greatly determine Sri Lanka’s automatic qualification for the 2023 Cricket World Cup, which will also be held in India in October-November. Thus, the next seven months are going to be decisive for Sri Lanka in the white-ball formats.

The Bangladesh series will be followed by a tour to England for ODIs and T20Is, hosting India for a similar series, the second edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), hosting South Africa for a white-ball series, and the ICC T20 World Cup. Sri Lanka will conclude the year by hosting West Indies for two Test matches in December.

Before they play their group qualifying matches for the ICC T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka has nine T20I fixtures against England, India, and South Africa, in addition to the second edition of the LPL, which should hold them in good stead for the qualifiers against Ireland, Papua New Guinea and Oman from Group A. Group B comprises of Bangladesh, Namibia, Netherlands and Scotland. The top four teams from the group stage will advance to the Super 12s where they will join the top eight teams that have directly qualified – Australia, Pakistan, India, South Africa, West Indies, England, New Zealand and Afghanistan.

Sri Lanka are currently placed at the bottom of the 13-team 50-over World Cup Super League, having played just one three-match series against the West Indies, which they lost 0-3, but also fined -2 points for a slow over rate. Thus, beginning with the Bangladesh ODI series, Sri Lanka will really need to kick-start their campaign towards finishing in the top eight of the Super League if they are to avoid having to go through a qualifying tournament to clinch the last two places. As with the previous editions, the 2023 50-over World Cup will feature ten teams.

To get them over the line Sri Lanka have made several radical changes initially to their ODI team that is currently in Bangladesh by appointing a new Captain and Vice-Captain Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis respectively, and omitting experienced players like Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dimuth Karunaratne and Suranga Lakmal – all former captains, whilst emphasising on youth. Whether this bold gamble will succeed will be followed with keen interest during the course of the year. 

Sri Lanka’s international schedule for 2021  

Sri Lanka v Bangladesh

1st ODI – 23 May – Dhaka

2nd ODI – 25 May – Dhaka

3rd ODI – 28 May – Dhaka

Sri Lanka v England

1st T20I – 23 June – Cardiff

2nd T20I – 24 June – Cardiff

3rd T20I – 26 June – Southampton

1st ODI – 29 June – Durham

2nd ODI – 1 July – London

3rd ODI – 4 July – Bristol

Sri Lanka v India  

1st ODI – 13 July - Colombo 

2nd ODI – 16 July - Colombo

3rd ODI – 19 July - Colombo

1st T20I – 22 July - Colombo

2nd T20I – 24 July - Colombo

3rd T20I – 27 July – Colombo

Note: All the matches which are d/n will probably be played at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

Lanka Premier League (2nd Edition)

August-September (in Sri Lanka)

Sri Lanka v South Africa

September – 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs (in Sri Lanka)

ICC T20 World Cup in India (18 October-15 November)

Qualifying matches

18 October – Sri Lanka v Ireland

20 October – Sri Lanka v Papua New Guinea

22 October – Sri Lanka v Oman

Sri Lanka v West Indies

December – 2 Tests 

(in Sri Lanka)