Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne admits it’s time for his batsmen to put their hands up and be counted when they take to the crease against Pakistan at the Bristol County Ground.
Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne admits it’s time for his batsmen to put their hands up and be counted when they take to the crease against Pakistan at the Bristol County Ground.
Karunaratne’s men suffered a second successive batting collapse in this year’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup during their thrilling low-scoring victory against Afghanistan in Cardiff.
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They appeared to be coasting at 144/1 before crumbling to 201 all out, but the bowlers came to the rescue as Afghanistan fell 34 runs short of their rain-revised target of 187 from 41 overs.
And having also slipped to 136 all out in their ten-wicket defeat to New Zealand in their tournament opener, Karunaratne has called on his batsmen to take more responsibility.
“I think Pakistan did really well against England,” he said. “They put score on the board, a big score, and after that they kept taking wickets, so those are the key areas.
“I think if you are playing any big team, you have to do the same thing, you have to put some runs on the board and give yourself a chance for the bowlers to take wickets.
“If you are not doing that, you can’t do that, then you’re not going to win. I think Pakistan, or whatever the team, you have to do the basic things if you want to win it.
“We did really well if you take the Afghanistan game, we defended 180. We were good and I saw a good team spirit there and the fielding unit and the bowling unit did a good job.
“Now the batting line-up have to put their hands up and do the job, because if we can put a good total on this wicket, this is a good flat wicket, then I am confident we can win.
“If you take the past matches in Bristol, everyone’s scoring more than 300 runs. If we can score 300-plus, our bowlers can defend it, I’m pretty sure of that.”
Sri Lanka have never beaten Pakistan at the World Cup in seven attempts and will face a side full of confidence after they defeated tournament hosts England by 14 runs at Trent Bridge.
But Karunaratne hopes Sri Lanka’s morale-boosting victory against Afghanistan – only their second ODI win this year – will ensure his side are in the best frame of mind for the challenge ahead.
“Pakistan are an unpredictable team, but we have a bit of confidence so we will be trying to give our best shot,” he said. “We are not over-confident as well, we are trying to do our best.
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“We just needed a win. It always give us the confidence if you get a win, any team, that is what we want and finally, we got that. We did really good things in the match against Afghanistan.
“But I think we have some parts to learn more, many to do with the batting. We just need to focus on those things and try to make sure those things are not happening in the Pakistan match.
“I think it’s a pretty good wicket at Bristol even if you take a bit of grass. I think it’s a fact that we got that rather than the Cardiff wicket, so we are trying to go with the same team.
“We will be trying to play the same batting line-up. I know Kusal Perera and what he can do because I played a lot with him, so that is why I want to give him a chance to go for it.
“I want to give him licence with the free hands and then if someone gets out, Lahiru Thirimanne can go there and play some anchor role, so those are the plans.
“I think this is our best batting line-up we can produce. Everybody has a job they have to do. If you are a batsman, you have to score. If you are a bowler, you have to take wickets.”
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