We misread the pitch – Asalanka on Sri Lanka’s defeat

Bangladesh celebrate their first T20I series win against Sri Lanka

Player of the Match Mahedi Hasan

Player of the Series Litton Das

Sri Lanka Captain Charith Asalanka at the post-match press conference

• “In a T20 game you cannot make too many mistakes because it’s a fast format”
•  “Bangladesh played better cricket than us on the day”

White ball captain Charith Asalanka admitted that he misread the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium pitch, which led to Sri Lanka losing the third and decisive T20 International to Bangladesh by 8 wickets and with it the three-match series for the first time.

“We misread the pitch that is why I decided to bat first but it turned out to be good for the side batting second. The coach and I thought the wicket will become slow later during the day but it didn’t happen that way,” said Asalanka at the post-match press conference.

“Whether to bat first or field is a collective decision taken by the team. We don’t delve too much into history but look at what is ahead of us. What we look at is the weather condition, the pitch etc. We know how much water has been sprayed into the pitch because we are playing in our home conditions, but sometimes the decisions we make can go wrong like today.”

“Mahedi’s (Hasan) bowling put us out of the game. Mahedi bowled really well. It looked like a spin track but our batsmen also made a few bad decisions which cost us the game. In a T20 game you cannot make too many mistakes because it’s a fast format. If we want to be a good team we will have to minimise our mistakes.”

I bowled one over and Kamindu (Mendis) also. He told me that the pitch had improved. We tried to spin but it didn’t work out. These things can happen. In the batting Tanzid (Hasan) played an exceptional innings on this track and he counter punched really well.”

“When the ball starts to spin in a T20 game it becomes hard for the batsman because you have to maintain a good strike rate as well as rotate the strike and you cannot play down too many dot balls. As a batsman I feel it is most challenging when the ball starts to spin. We must look at the good side of this loss and accept the fact that we have a lot of areas to improve. We must not think that we are on top, we are seventh in the rankings because of this reason. As players we must accept defeat and the responsibility and try to improve and win matches for the country.”

“I personally think that we should bear more responsibility when playing because T20 is the most difficult because it is fast moving. When you get the opportunity you must score, I am also responsible because in the last two games I couldn’t contribute. That could also be a reason for the defeat.”

“We can give a lot of reasons after a defeat but as a team we are extremely disappointed to lose the series. With the T20 World Cup in mind we are trying out a lot of combinations. We know in the 2024 T20 World Cup where we finished. We had a great challenge to get the right combination. We have a problem with the middle order batting and we are still trying out. In today’s game we brought in Dinesh Chandimal at 4 and Kamindu Mendis at 6. There is a big shortcoming there and we hope to fix it as quickly as possible.”

Asalanka said that his team’s biggest issue was the lack of power hitters. “If you take the other teams there are a lot of players with strike rates over 130 plus, we have only two or three. We should have players with strike rates over 130 from 1-7 in our line up in this format. We need to overcome it.”

Asalanka expressed his dissatisfaction about the fielding. “I am really disappointed. We always talk about catching 100%. You can miss catches but that is not an excuse. We are playing as professionals representing the country, this is our job so we must know to be consistent with our catching. Individually, we must bear the responsibility as players but if it happens often, we cannot perform as required.”

The absence of Sri Lanka’s match-winning all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga also had an adverse effect in the series. Hasaranga was ruled out with a hamstring injury to his right leg.  

“It is a big loss not having a player like Wanindu. He is our T20 champion bowler. Unlike other countries we don’t have 2-3 players competing for one place we have to look after and carefully manage the players we have. With Wanindu’s batting and fielding it is difficult to replace a player like him. (Jeffrey) Vandersay did his best and chances were dropped off his bowling. We will need to look if we can get a similar replacement to Hasaranga,” said Asalanka.

After losing the Test and ODI series and suffering an embarrassing defeat in the opening T20I, Bangladesh bounced back strongly in the second match. Litton Das, their skipper said that the win changed the entire mood in the dressing room and filled the team with confidence.

“I think winning changes the face of the team. We also won the second game by 83 runs, which is a huge achievement. The whole team had the confidence to win if we played our best cricket,” he said after Bangladesh’s historic victory.

Das, who had been struggling with the bat, made two noteworthy contributions in the second and third T20Is to take the Player of the Series award.

Speaking of their match-winner off-spinner Mahedi Hasan who won the Player of the Match award, Das said, “We felt that given the skills of Mahedi, he would be a perfect fit on the Colombo wicket. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t bowl well on other wickets. I had planned it before seeing the schedule – that whoever plays in Colombo, the first name will be Mahedi. A bowling-friendly surface will always make me pick Mahedi,” he said.