Bangladesh ODI series a good eye-opener for Sri Lanka

Janith Liyanage, Sri Lanka’s rising star 

• Proves everything is not hunky-dory

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

In a truly hard-fought match host Bangladesh came up trumps beating Sri Lanka 2-1 to bring to an end their miserable run in bilateral ODIs where they had lost their last three series 2-1 to Afghanistan, and twice to New Zealand 2-0 at home and 2-1 away.

For Sri Lanka, it was simply the opposite. Following the aftermath of their disappointing performance in the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India, they had begun their revival well beating Zimbabwe 2-0 and Afghanistan 3-0, only to falter against Bangladesh.

That defeat has not affected Sri Lanka’s ODI rankings where they remain at number 7, but it has reduced the points gap between them and 8th placed Bangladesh to a mere four points (91 and 87).

Just as in the T20I format, Sri Lanka still has a few grey areas in their cricket to improve. For instance, their top and middle order batting is inconsistent – one match they are brilliant and the next pretty ordinary.

Except for the first ODI, Sri Lanka has lost wickets in the first power play regularly which is a concern. In the second ODI they were 43-3 and in the third 41-3 in 10.2 overs. There have been several outstanding individual performances, but none collectively which is important for any team to be consistently successful.

Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka shone in the second ODI where their record-breaking partnership of 185 spurred Sri Lanka to victory to level the series one-all. However, in the deciding game, Sri Lanka once again failed to put enough runs on the board as they had in the first ODI and were subsequently beaten.

The biggest positive to come out of the series for Sri Lanka was the batting exploits of former Peterite cricketer Janith Liyanage who notched up his maiden ODI hundred in the third match while the rest of the Lankan batting fell by the wayside. He made 101* out of a total of 235 to follow his knock of 67 in the first ODI. Since making his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in January this year, Liyanage has had an impressive run with the bat scoring one hundred and three fifties in his first six ODI innings for an average of 69.20 and an impressive strike rate of 87.37. Coming in at number six, Liyanage has had to bat most of the time with the tail which unlike Bangladesh hardly contributes to the total. Pushing Liyanage up the order would be a good option to get the maximum out of his talent.

Another area where Sri Lanka has to improve is their lower-order batting where the bowlers hardly make any worthwhile contribution. One of Bangladesh’s successes has been their tail to wag strongly with the likes of Mehidy Hasan Mirza, Rishad Hossain and Taskin Ahmed all of whom can clear the boundary at will.

Sri Lanka has a well-balanced bowling unit provided the bowlers can keep themselves free of injuries. Injuries greatly affect the strategic planning that goes into a match and one cannot expect the same contribution from a replacement player.

The defeat in the ODI series is a good eye-opener for Sri Lanka that everything is not hunky dory, they still have a long way to go before they can be a strong competitive side in this format. The wins that Sri Lanka has achieved so far since the 2023 World Cup are against teams that are ranked below them Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to whom they have lost. 

They have not been tested by teams ranked above them. Their real test will be when India tours Sri Lanka in July for a series of three ODIs and three T20Is.

With the next 50-over Cricket World Cup still three years away, there is enough time for Sri Lanka to improve on the grey areas and become a force to be reckoned with. Consistency is what they lack and it is towards achieving this end that they must aim at.