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Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur and captain Dasun Shanaka have a lot to discuss in the next few weeks
Kusal Perera is a key component in the Sri Lankan batting line-up
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
The way Sri Lanka has been performing in T20I cricket does not offer much hope for them in the upcoming T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman, but they are optimistic that they can turn things around during the 28 day-tournament especially in a format where sometimes even the best prepared teams can even end on the losing side.
Sri Lanka’s task of playing in the T20 World Cup proper has not been made any easy with them first having to go through a qualifying round to get into the Super12 of the tournament. They are up against associated nations Namibia, Ireland and Netherlands who have nothing to lose but everything to gain by winning their respective matches.
For Sri Lanka as a full member Test nation and past winner of the T20 World Cup the pressure is on them to qualify to the next round. How they get about doing that will be followed by the entire nation in the next few weeks.
The key to Sri Lanka’s success will be their batting which has faltered many times and been the cause of a string of defeats over the past so many years that sees them drop down to no. 10 in the ICC rankings.
Since the last T20 World Cup in India in 2016 where they failed to get beyond the group stage winning just one game against Afghanistan and losing three, Sri Lanka has figured in 56 T20Is and won only 16 of them against 39 defeats and 1 no-result, which does not leave much to talk about their performances in the shortest format.
Head coach Mickey Arthur is very much aware of this shortcoming in the batting and before heading for Oman for the first leg of their campaign he said in a virtual press conference: “It’s an area we have worked extremely hard on over the last nine days.
“We’ve had three practice games, we had some skill sessions and we got players to sweep. We’ve clearly identified where we want our players to play. I was happy to see our batting get up to 184 batting first. If our batting clicks it will give us a really good chance. Our bowling attack is very good and our fielding standards have improved dramatically.”
Two key areas where Sri Lanka’s got to work on and get right before they play in the qualifiers is their batting order which has never been a settled one and to decrease the number of dot balls that has contributed largely to their low totals.
“We’ve done a lot behind closed doors, we’ve changed guys’ roles just a little bit and I am confident that today (Saturday) I saw a semblance of it all coming together nicely,” said Arthur commenting on the make-up of the batting order.
“My objective is once we get to Oman that everybody’s role clarity is very clear. We’ve got 4 practice games to actually practice before we get into the competition as such. There have been tweaks in the batting order most definitely and I’ve seen two positions work really well. I hope they continue to work in this tournament.”
With regard to overcoming the number of dot balls the batsmen play out, Arthur said: “It’s something I’ve been working on for the last nine months with our group. It’s easy to stand and hit boundaries but having the ability to deflect the ball into gaps off a good ball is a real art of batsmanship.
“We’ve done a lot of drills during this space, we harped on that, we were very clear what we wanted our players to do in terms of our match practice that we had. We’ve gone into the nets after that and reviewed it and practiced it. I am really comfortable that we have gotten better. It’s certainly a work in progress, there’s no magic wand here.”
One of the key components of Sri Lanka’s batting is flamboyant opener Kusal Perera whose fitness is a key if the team is to have a successful run in the tournament. Perera pulled a hamstring during the third and final T20I against South Africa, but was yet included in Sri Lanka T20 World Cup squad with the hope that he may recover in time.
“Kusal has been working unbelievably hard with our physio. He batted today (Saturday) and he went up and set up an innings beautifully with young Pathum Nissanka. He played an exceptional innings and absolutely showed no signs of any injury whatsoever,” said Arthur.
“We will take it slow with him because he is one of our major players. We will have him in tip top condition come the first game on 18 October. How we use him through Oman and through those training games I am not 100 percent sure. Perhaps he plays 2 out of 4 but I am really impressed with the way he played, his batting was phenomenal.”
Arthur said losing the services of Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka was a bitter blow.
“You are talking of three of your top five batters in the white ball format that was a bitter pill to swallow. You’ve suddenly got to square one in terms of your planning again. It was really disappointing but it led us to find the likes of Charith Asalanka, who’s come on beautifully and Kamindu Mendis, allowing Dinesh Chandimal and Bhanuka Rajapaksa to come back into the mix. Out of that adversity it’s allowed other opportunities to players but those three were primarily in terms of our white ball planning.”
Arthur said with the squad that he’s got they can be flexible in terms of how they set up the teams according to the pitches in the UAE. “I’ve been watching the IPL very intently because we are going to play on the same wickets. Sharjah’s looked an interesting wicket, it held a little bit.
“All the wickets at this time of the year are fairly slow there simply because of the weather conditions. It’s why they have left a little bit of grass on.”
Skipper Dasun Shanaka said that it was an advantage to have two members of the World Cup squad playing in the IPL and also having the services of former captain Mahela Jayawardene as a consultant for the qualifying matches.
“To have two players (Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera) taking part in the IPL we can get an update from them about the wickets when they join us. There is also the dew factor. Mahela joining us is a big plus for the team. The experience he has as a coach not many in Sri Lanka have and being in the IPL is a big advantage for us. We can get a lot of help from him.”
Sri Lanka warm-up matches
Sri Lanka T20 World Cup qualifying matches
