Sri Lanka’s T-20 captain Dinesh Chandimal is confident of a good show at the ICC World T-20 which is four months away.
The World T-20 is scheduled for March next year in Bangladesh, and Chandimal, speaking to journalists on Tuesday after the first T-20 against New Zealand was washed out, believed his side will be tough to beat in Bangladesh.
Chandimal, who turned 24 on Monday, was confident that Sri Lanka’s experience, planning, conditions in Bangladesh and their attack will make them a formidable side in the competition.
“We have a good opportunity, especially as I feel that conditions in Bangladesh will be similar to what we have at home. We have a good plan. We need to identify a couple of more players if someone gets injured,” he told journalists.
Chandimal added that Sri Lanka will be making use of the next few T-20 Internationals ahead of the World T-20 to finalise the squad for the competition. “We have five T-20 games before the World T-20, and we are using them to identify players who will feature make the squad.”
Sri Lanka has done well in World T-20s having reached the finals in 2009 and 2012. In 2010, they lost the semi-final to eventual champions England. “The last couple of World T-20s were a big disappointment as we played good cricket and made it to the last hurdle. We have a good plan and we are hopeful of going all the way in Bangladesh,” Chandimal stated.
Chandimal was also excited that Sri Lanka will tour Bangladesh just before the World T-20 and he was confident playing in those conditions just before a big international event will work in Sri Lanka’s favour.
“That’s a good opportunity that we have got. We will play two Tests, three ODIs and two T-20 games in Bangladesh, just before the World T-20 and that will be a major advantage for us. We will get a fair idea as to what kind of team we need to play there, and we will get an idea about which players are in good nick and so on.
Sri Lanka is in an easy group alongside South Africa, England and New Zealand. The four teams will be joined by some of the qualifiers.
