Thursday Sep 18, 2025
Thursday Sep 18, 2025
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Sri Lanka Batting Coach Thilina Kandamby in conversation with Pathum Nissanka during practice
DUBAI: Having opened the defence of their Asia Cup T20 title with a comprehensive seven-wicket win against Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, Sri Lanka are not taking any chances — even against an associate side like Hong Kong China, who are their next opponents in Group B.
Sri Lanka return to the venue where they last won the Asia Cup in 2022 – Dubai – for the game against Hong Kong China today, but Batting Coach Thilina Kandamby said that they were not taking any team in the tournament lightly.
“We won’t take any chances against any team because, in this version of the game, every team is tough to beat. We will play our full-strength side against Hong Kong,” said Kandamby at the pre-match media conference.
“The only advantage is that we have an experienced side, but when it comes to this version, you can’t take any chances. Anybody can play well on their day and win a game. We will go one match at a time and play our full-strength team.”
Kandamby said that, during the series in Zimbabwe, they were discussing how they were going to play in the Asia Cup.
“We did some changes during the Zimbabwe tour. One good example is Kamil Mishara. He is the find from the Zimbabwe tour. At the moment, it’s a very happy camp and it’s only just the start of the tournament. It’s always good to have momentum on our side.”
The Batting Coach said that he was not duly bothered if Sri Lanka were dismissed for low scores, as long as the momentum was there.
“We have addressed the issue maybe 6-7 months back. I am not bothered if we get bowled out for 80 or 90—it’s about keeping the momentum. If you end up with 170 or 180, you can easily win a game. We might have a bad day and get out for 80 or 90, but it doesn’t matter, because now the boys have realised how to adjust to the conditions. As a team, they have been playing regularly and they are ready.”
Having won the first T20I against Zimbabwe by four wickets, Sri Lanka were surprisingly dismissed for their second lowest total in the second game – 80, which they lost. However, Sri Lanka came back strong in the third and final match to win it by eight wickets and take the series 2-1.
Kandamby said that Sri Lanka were quite happy to go with the current 7-4 format, but added that it could change with different opponents.
“We have been doing well in the last 3-4 games with this combination, and we are happy to go with it. But we always have the option of getting another bowler in or another all-rounder like Chamika [Karunaratne] in the side.”
Sri Lanka went into the game against Bangladesh with three seamers and one specialist spinner, Wanindu Hasaranga, leaving out Maheesh Theekshana, and it worked out well for them, keeping Bangladesh down to a total of 139-5.
“It’s always a plus point to have a world-class spinner like Wanindu in our side. We also have Theekshana and [Dunith] Wellalage. It depends on the conditions whether we are going to play an additional spinner. But all in all, we executed our plans really well.”
