After a shock defeat against Namibia in their tournament opener, Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka pointed to the bowling on what went wrong for the islanders.
Sri Lanka started off the game well, picking up 3 wickets in the powerplay and keeping the Namibian batters in check with some crafty back of the length bowling. When Maheesh Theekshana picked up the vital wicket of David Wiese in the 15th over, Sri Lanka probably had their eye on bowling Namibia out.
But what followed was an inexplicable change of tactics from the bowlers, who went from back of a length with pace, to trying too many things, according to Shanaka, “I think with the short boundaries, they tried too much. I think if they stuck to that hard length, wicket to wicket, what the Namibian bowlers did really well, it would have been different.”
Sri Lanka’s inability to close out the innings, ultimately saw them leak 68 runs off the last 6 overs, giving Namibia a more than competitive 163 in their allotted overs.
“I think after the sixth wicket fell, what we should have done is try to get the next wicket. Our bowlers, they didn’t bowl to take wickets. Each and every one of them has played a handful of games, so I think that’s the area we should learn quickly to take the wickets rather than giving balls to hit. I think we gave a lot of bad balls to hit boundaries…… I think we are a better team than this, and especially when it comes to the bowling. If you look at their bowling, they really bowled in good areas, where our bowlers didn’t do.”
Despite conceding more than they would have liked having won the toss, Sri Lanka would have been confident of chasing down the target, with much of their recent T20 success coming while batting second. However, the loss of 3 wickets in the powerplay, put Sri Lanka seriously on the back foot, according to Shanaka.
“It wasn’t a tough total. As I mentioned before, losing three wickets in the powerplay makes it very hard to get back. We have done it in the past, we have chased down 160. In this game the areas where they bowled were excellent.”
Despite the loss, there may be a silver lining for Sri Lanka, who, IF they qualify, will go through to Group B, which many consider the weaker of the two Groups, with Group a featuring England, Australia, New Zealand and Afghanistan. However, if this is to come to pass, Sri Lanka will need to ensure that they beat both the UAE and the Netherlands with considerable margins, while also hoping that the weather doesn’t get in their way.
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