Afghanistan look for redemption, Sri Lanka plan for T20 WC

Afghanistan cricketers at a team conference ahead of practices 

Sri Lanka Captain Wanindu Hasaranga needs two wickets to reach a century of wickets in T20I cricket

• Three-match T20I series commences at Dambulla today

Beaten in the one-off Test and whitewashed 3-0 in the ODIs, Afghanistan, a proud nation of cricketers will look to redeem themselves somewhat in the last leg of their Sri Lankan tour when the three-match T20I series commences at the newly illuminated Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium today at 7 p.m.

Afghanistan rue the loss of their two match-winning spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman who have been ruled out of the tour with injuries but Assistant Coach Rais Ahmadzai is of the view that it is an opportunity for the younger players to step in.

“If any team has bowlers like Rashid and Mujeeb they can put pressure on the opposition. It is very good for other young players that if something happens to seniors you have replacements. If we had Rashid or Mujeeb, the story would have been different,” said Ahmadzai at the pre-match press conference.

“Unfortunately we lost the Test and it was very sad to lose the ODIs 3-0. We looked out of colour. Sri Lanka played really well in all three games. But this is an opportunity for us. Our T-20 specialists are in town. This is a professional life for a coach or a player, you need to focus on the positives and we will try to do the right things.”

“Last World Cup a lot of people didn’t consider us as a strong side. It was a good answer for all of them who wrote us off. We are working hard and we want to continue to keep improving. We have a lot of players involved in league cricket, about nine in the IPL. We have a lot of experience. We would like to finish in the top four and every team will worry about playing against Afghanistan.”

One of the areas Afghanistan will be looking to improve is their fielding which has let them down in the ODI series. “This is the area where we need to work hard. In the last ODI, Ibrahim (Zadran) played a shot and it was stopped (by Avishka Fernando). He saved four runs and effected the run out. Fielding gives a lot of momentum for a side. We are far behind from international standards.”

Sri Lanka will concentrate on getting their combinations right for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and States.

T20I skipper Wanindu Hasaranga said, “We take all decisions based on the World Cup. We only have six more games before the World Cup. If we can get wickets similar to what we get in World Cups, it would be ideal.”

“Good bowling units win World Cups. We have different types of bowlers. Maheesh (Theekshana) and I are in the top ten of ICC Rankings. Dushmantha (Chameera) was shaping up well but he was injured. We have Binura (Fernando) and Matheesha (Pathirana) and Nuwan Thushara. We have a balanced bowling unit. We have bowled well on good tracks. Matheesha and Nuwan, we expect them to bowl well in the death overs. I have a responsibility to bowl well in the middle overs. At the start we expect Dilshan (Madushanka) and Chameera to do the job for us. We want to achieve that target in this series, so that by the time we go for the World Cup we will be ready for the challenge.”

“I also hope the fielding will be on top. Every game if we can lift our fielding by 10% it will be great. Priority is that we need to field well. We are in the process of doing it. We want to become a good fielding unit in the world.”

Hasaranga is two wickets shy of reaching a century of wickets in T20Is and the series provides him with the opportunity to become only the second Sri Lankan to achieve that mark after Lasith Malinga. He has 98 wickets from 61 matches. Malinga finished his career with 107 wickets from 84 matches.