The national cricket team left for Bangladesh early this week for a multi-format tour that involves three T-20s, three ODIs and two Test matches. In the first two months of the year, Sri Lanka have made quite a progress winning five series and it remains to be seen whether they can make it eight series wins inside four months. Quite possible given the brand of cricket they have played this year so far.
Sri Lanka will start the tour with some handicaps. Not having captain Wanindu Hasaranga is quite a blow. Not only his leg-spin, but he has been tremendous in his role as floater in T-20 cricket. Pathum Nissanka has had a fabulous start to the year and the team will miss him top of the order.
Kusal Perera hasn’t got going this year and he too had to pull out in the last moment after reporting sick. There are debates whether Kusal deserves his place in the side as he doesn’t give the team anything with the ball and is not an electric fielder. But with the bat he can be so devastating and in a World Cup year, we need to keep backing him hoping he will turn things around.
Dushmantha Chameera is also recovering from injury and he too will be missed. In their absence, some of the other players have got opportunities. The most notable of them being Avishka Fernando. A match winner when on song, Avishka played some superb knocks during the ODI series but he was overlooked for the T-20s. Injury to Nissanka has opened up an opportunity for him.
>>Sri Lanka’s change of approach paying dividends
It is in ODI cricket Sri Lanka have been so prolific this year having remained unbeaten after six games. The fearless approach of the batters, bowlers trying to knock teams over rather than containing them and excellence on the field have all stood them in good stead. Can they replicate the home form overseas as well?
Charith Asalanka’s consistent batting has seen him leapfrog several places in ICC ODI rankings along with Pathum Nissanka and both batters have got opportunities to make further inroads.
As for the Test series, Sri Lanka are lingering last having not yet opened the account in the World Test Championship points table and this series provides an opportunity to move up a few places.
Their first series in the World Test Championship against Pakistan last year was a huge disappointment. Pakistan’s aggressive style of play took Sri Lanka by surprise and then batting collapses played into the opposition’s hands.
Bangladesh’s bowling will not be as classy as that of Pakistan’s, but they have some very good young batters.
One reason why Sri Lanka have been able to make progress in the new year is because they have done some vital changes to their set up. They have obviously given a lot of priority for fielding and results will be there in the longer run.
The other key area has been they have picked the squad first and then appointed a captain. That has been the practice all these decades. But last few years were an exception where the selectors picked the captain first and then chose the team. Effectively the captain didn’t have a place in the side. This led to divisions within the team. It was recipe for disaster.
The balance of the side is a key aspect as well. Having depended heavily on all-rounders, the team in recent months moved away from the policy going for six batters, four bowlers and one all-rounder combination. It is better if they stick to the same formula in T-20 cricket as well. It can be a bit of a concern when there are not many bowling options in the top six. Which is why someone like Kamindu Mendis in the T-20 side should be spending more time bowling.
Sanath Jayasuriya, who is at the helm of cricket is a classic example. His bowling was very much underrated but on the insistence of Duleep Mendis he put in more of an effort with the ball and in the end ended up with more ODI wickets than the great Shane Warne.
Maybe Jayasuriya should take Kamindu to a side and drive home the point that why spending more time with the ball at the nets is important. These days you hardly see Kamindu bowling long spells even in domestic cricket.
This being the last T-20 series before the World Cup, it gives Sri Lanka an opportunity to get their combination in order. Should Dhananjaya de Silva be part of their T-20 outfit will be a question they need to find answers to. The same goes with the likes of Nuwan Thusara, Binura Fernando and Akila Dananjaya. If excellence on the field is their new mantra, all three are slow movers and they need to figure out whether all of them should settle for places in the World Cup squad.
