Friday Sep 20, 2024
Friday Sep 20, 2024
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Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson
Sri Lanka’s three-wicket loss to Bangladesh on Monday has only further compounded their chances of qualifying for a place in the eight-team Champions Trophy to be held in Pakistan in 2025.
Sri Lanka are currently in eighth position and need to maintain it or go higher than that if they can beat New Zealand in their final World Cup league game at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru today to be assured of a place in the first eight.
At the same time New Zealand who are placed fourth need to beat Sri Lanka for them to guarantee themselves of a semi-final berth in the World Cup. So, it is two teams with different objectives to achieve.
“This match holds tremendous significance as it can determine our qualification for the Champions Trophy. Securing a spot among the top eight is our goal,” said Sri Lanka assistant coach Naveed Nawaz at the pre-match press conference. “In our morning discussion with the playing group, we emphasised the importance of not dwelling on the past, as we cannot alter what has already transpired. What lies ahead is the final match in this tournament, and that’s where our focus needs to be. Our primary focus is squarely on that upcoming match.”
“We’ve reflected on the lessons we’ve gleaned from this tournament understanding the intricacies of the pitch and grounds, studying the strategies of our opponents, and identifying areas for improvement in our own gameplay. Our objective is not limited to tournaments; rather, we aim to start implementing these learnings from this point onward, continuously enhancing our performance in the matches that lie ahead.”
“We did not want to wait until we went back to Sri Lanka. We are trying to do it for tomorrow’s game. We should initiate this process immediately because we’re no longer in the tournament. The players must assimilate the lessons they’ve gathered from other teams, including our mistakes and the positive aspects we failed to maintain. I believe that by promptly aligning our focus in the right direction, particularly before or during tomorrow’s match, we can rectify our errors based on what we’ve learned, enabling us to approach the match with confidence. We have talent within our squad, and our players are highly skilled.”
There has been plenty of individual brilliance for Sri Lanka in this Cricket World Cup tournament but apart from two games which they have won, those performances have not come unitedly to convert them into victories.
Key to Sri Lanka’s batting disasters have been their opening slot. Pathum Nissanka has been unable to find a suitable partner to stitch together a noteworthy partnership for the first wicket which would provide the batsmen to follow a platform to aim for a big total. Instead, what has happened is, with the exception of one good partnership (125 v Australia), Sri Lanka’s middle order has been exposed to the new ball well before the first power play is over.
Both Dimuth Karunaratne (15 runs, avg. 7.50) and Kusal Perera (98 runs, avg. 16.33) have struggled to find form which has been detrimental to Sri Lanka’s batting. Sri Lanka has lost the first wicket for 1 (1.1 overs), 5 (1.4), 18 (4.3), 9 (1.5), 22 (5.2), 0 (0.1) and 5 (1).
To further deepen the crisis within the Lankan ranks, Kusal Mendis after taking over the captaincy from Dasun Shanaka has been unable to display the same form he did before he was entrusted with the responsibility.
Prior to taking over as captain Mendis had scores of 76 and 122. As captain his contributions have been 9, 11, 11, 39, 1 and 19. Whether the extra responsibility as captain is weighing on him is questionable. Captaincy is not something new to Mendis having led his school Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa as well as being the Sri Lanka U15 and U17 captain and the U19 World Cup captain of 2014.
“I think it’s about mental clarity. We’ve had many discussions and he’s been given the freedom to go about in his preferred fashion,” said Nawaz. “We’ve discussed before the tournament and agreed that all players are going to play with a positive tempo. That’s how you should be playing and that’s how we have succeeded as well. There’s no difference to Kusal Mendis’ approach. We’ve told him that he’s only captaining on the field when we are bowling. When he goes into the middle, not to carry that burden as a captain, but be a batter. We’ve tried to clear his mind as much as possible, not sort of trying to put a burden of captaincy on him.”
Sadeera Samarawickrama (372 runs, avg 62.00), Pathum Nissanka (330 runs, avg. 47.14), Charith Asalanka (280 runs, avg. 40.00) and Mendis (288 runs, avg. 36.00) are the leading run-getters for Sri Lanka with Mendis, Samarawickrama and Asalanka having scored a century apiece. Nissanka has been a constant run-getter with four consecutive fifties with an aggregate of 330 runs (avg. 47.14). In the bowling, left-arm fast bowler Dilshan Madushanka stands head and shoulders above the rest as the leading bowler of the 2023 World Cup with 21 wickets (avg. 22.23).
As for the rest of the bowlers they have been struggling to maintain a consistent line and length and gone for plenty with very little returns. The presence of Angelo Mathews has given the Sri Lankan bowling an attacking option with him picking up important wickets with his gentle medium-pace.
With so much happening at home between Sri Lanka Cricket and the Sports Minister largely due to Sri Lanka’s poor performances in the World Cup, the least this team can do is to finish a disappointing campaign on a winning note. Whether that can be achieved is a matter of conjecture.
