Sri Lanka, yet to hit their straps, take on Oman today

• Dushan Hemantha to make T20 World Cup debut

Dushan Hemantha for injured  Wanindu Hasaranga	Oman’s Vinayak Shukla addresses the media

PALLEKELE: Dushan Hemantha, the 31-year-old right-arm leg-spin all-rounder, will make his debut in the T20 World Cup when he was included in Sri Lanka’s XI for the Group B match against Oman at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium today.

Hemantha was drafted into the Sri Lanka squad after champion spinner Wanindu Hasaranga was ruled out of the World Cup with a hamstring injury. He will replace Hasaranga for today’s game, which is the only change Sri Lanka has made from the side that won their opening fixture against Ireland by 20 runs.

Hemantha has had a feel of playing in a World Cup when he appeared for Sri Lanka in two matches of the 2023 Cricket World Cup against the Netherlands and India, bowling a total of 16 overs and conceding 94 runs without taking a wicket. He will team up with spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage as Sri Lanka go in with three spinners and two seamers in Dushmantha Chameera and Matheesha Pathirana. The batting remains untouched.

Batting conditions at Pallekele are expected to be better than the slow surfaces of the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium (RPICS) and Sri Lanka will need to come up with a total that should give their batsmen enough confidence for the rest of the tournament. Sri Lanka’s batting was far from convincing against Ireland in their opening match, although they won.

“We played well in the powerplay; it was after the powerplay that we faltered a little,” said fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera at the pre-match media conference. “At the RPICS, the boundary lines are pretty long so the chances of scoring boundaries were less. The team accepts the fact that we should have taken more singles and twos, but at the same time, it must be said that Kusal Mendis was slightly indisposed the day before the match, but he managed to bat right till the end from the powerplay. That’s why we missed out on taking the ones and the twos. However, we managed to catch up in the final three overs. Kamindu Mendis played extremely well, that’s why we were able to get to 163.”

Having suffered six straight defeats to England in the ODI and T20I series, Chameera said that Sri Lanka badly needed a win to motivate themselves. 

“We managed to do it. From now onwards, we have a game against Oman, then Australia, and Zimbabwe. We are looking to win them and get into the Super Six.”

Oman’s batting was undone by the Zimbabwean pacemen, who knocked them over for 103 at the SSC. But Chameera said that conditions at Pallekele were more supportive of batsmen and that one could expect a high-scoring game.

“We have a good fast bowling combination, especially Matheesha Pathirana. He didn’t bowl in the powerplay earlier, but with him now bowling in the powerplay, it is an advantage for the team. He can bowl anywhere during a match. Likewise, if you take Pramod (Madushan), he can also bowl with the new ball as well as at the death,” said Chameera.

“The associate nations have been doing well in this World Cup and have challenged every team. We will also take them as a challenge and somehow try to win while at the same time improve our net run rate. We won’t underestimate Oman, we will give our 100% to win.”

Vinayak Shukla, who top-scored for Oman with 28 in their match against Zimbabwe, said: “Sri Lanka is a very good team and everybody knows that they are going to bring up some different kind of challenges to us, especially how we performed in our previous game. I feel like they have already seen where we are lacking but we are already preparing for the things that they are going to come up with. So, definitely we are looking forward to the challenges that they are bringing in and we hope we will cope with that.”

“We worked hard backstage after that game. We came here early and had some practice sessions. What I feel is that one bad game doesn’t define you as a team. We are going to come back stronger. Having an off day as a batting unit is not going to define how players are going to perform in this particular World Cup. We are looking forward to coming up with some good options and tackling these issues,” he added.

Shukla said that having four Test nations in the group was like a blessing in disguise for them. “Every game if you want to win, we have to beat a Test playing nation, which is a big thing. When you go into the field, you don’t see whom you are playing against. It’s just between the bat and the ball. On a particular given day, anyone can stand up and make the game because it’s a T20. If one single batter and one single bowler performs pretty well, then definitely you are going to win.”