Sri Lanka’s T20 skipper Dinesh Chandimal said debutant Ramith Rambukwella is the country’s best spinning all-rounder behind Sachithra Senanayake in the T20 format and his selection for Thursday’s series decider against New Zealand was to give him experience and confidence.
While Senanayake who has been the country’s best spinning all-rounder in the recent past, both in the limited overs and T20 had to sit out as selectors opted for the inexperienced youngster.
“Sachithra is the best T20 spinner we have at the moment and anyway he would be in our playing XI. So with just four matches left before the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, we want to give a couple of more chances to other players like Seekkuge Prasanna and Ramith Rambukwella,” Chandimal said at the post match press conference.
“If Sachithra is not there, Ramith is our next best choice,” he added.
Rambukwella, though quite shoddy in the field, was impressive with his right arm spin. He returned figures of one for 19 in his 4 overs.
“You never know what will happen in terms of injuries before the World T20, so we should keep a new player ready to play in the team. That was our plan in this team,” Chandimal explained the philosophy behind Rambukwella’s inclusion and Senanayake’s exclusion.
Jeevan Mendis who has been once a regular spinning all-rounder in ODIs and T20s has gone out of selectors’ radar after a series of mediocre performances while Akila Dananjaya who featured in the last T20 World Cup at home in 2011 hasn’t proved himself to earn a recall to the national side, leaving fewer options for national selectors.
New Zealand skipper Kyle Mills was also pleased with Rambukwella’s performance on debut. “That’s a performance anyone will be pleased with on debut. It’s the first time we’ve had a look at him, but some of our A guys had a look at him on the A tour, and he looks like a really decent player. I understand he can hold the bat reasonably well as well,” Mills said.
While Rambukwella bowled his full quota of overs, the specialist spinner, who is ranked number 3rd in T20 rankings, did not complete his full quota. Ajantha Mendis gave away 20 runs in three overs and picked up the wicket of Anton Devcich.
“We know that Mendis is ranked second or third among T20 bowlers. He is a bowler who can change a match for us, especially against teams like New Zealand, England and South Africa – he’s a good weapon. So, we’ll see what the team needs in every match, before we choose the XI,” Chandimal stressed.The next T20 World Cup will be played in Bangladesh from March 16 to April 6, 2014.
