Focus on Dilshan Madushanka

• “It is important for someone like him and for Sri Lanka cricket that he goes and finds his rhythm” – Coach Gunawardene
• Sri Lanka ‘A’ team leaves for Abu Dhabi today

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The upcoming tour by the Sri Lanka ‘A’ side to Abu Dhabi is important in several aspects for the build-up of Sri Lanka’s national team where the Head Coach Avishka Gunawardene will be looking to improve in several areas.

Sri Lanka will be playing Afghanistan ‘A’ and Ireland Wolves in a 50-over Tri-Nation Series which will be followed by a 4-day unofficial test against Afghanistan ‘A’.

“We haven’t had white ball cricket in domestic cricket for the last few months, therefore this tour is rather important for two things – one, is you try and look at the next replacement for Sri Lanka and two, players like left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka who is coming back into form, it is important for someone like him and for Sri Lanka cricket that he goes and finds his rhythm,” said Gunawardene.

Madushanka in fact broke into the limelight during the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India where he finished as the third highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 21 wickets taken at a cost 25.00 in 9 matches. But since then his form with the ball had waned and subsequently he lost his place in the national ODI squad.

“Dilshan had a nice stock ball which is coming into the right hander. I think when you play a lot of T20 cricket you tend to forget your stock ball because you are not going to bowl it for too long as you’ve got only 24 balls,” explained Gunawardene.

“In those 24 balls you might sometimes bowl 2 or 3 spells. I think that is where he lost his rhythm. But now that he has played with the red ball the last few games in the NSL (National Super League 4-day) he’s kind of got his rhythm and pace back. It will be interesting to see how he goes in this tri-series. I am really looking at him because that is one area Sri Lanka cricket has to look at as we are trying to find fast bowlers and a good left-armer at that.”

“The other guy is Milan Rathnayake, to see how he goes with the white ball. We’ve seen him with the red ball. Those are two special areas we are looking at in this series when it comes to bowlers.”

“I want to see Chamindu (Wickramasinghe) how he goes in ODI cricket. I like to see him bowling his quota in the 50 overs. If we are going to play him in 50-over cricket and look at him batting at seven as a fast bowling all-rounder he needs to bowl at least 75 percent of his quota. These are a few areas we like to cover during the series.”

As regards the batsmen Gunawardene said, “These guys have been playing together for the last 6-7 months. They are just not fortunate enough to get into the national Test side because the first 6 or 7 is pretty much cemented. All they can do is go out there and keep performing and when the opportunity comes to grab it. If you don’t find a place at national level, the next level is the ‘A’ team and you keep performing.”

Two batsmen in the current Sri Lanka ‘A’ team who won recognition for their prolific scoring in domestic cricket and made it to the Test squad but not the final 11 in the recently concluded Test series against Australia are Sonal Dinusha and Lahiru Udara.

The real test for Sri Lanka ‘A’ in the Tri Series will be against host Afghanistan ‘A’.

“Abu Dhabi is their home ground and we will be up against them. They have picked 16 players in their squad and there are at least 8 national caps. It’s not going to be easy with Afghanistan playing on their home turf. They are very good at white ball cricket. Although we beat them here last year 4-1 the real test would be against Afghanistan,” said Gunawardene. “Ireland, when you look at the names there are about 3-4 national caps who have played T20Is and ODIs but we really have no idea about their team. Other than that it’s quite a new side.”

Sri Lanka ‘A’ play Ireland Wolves in their opening match on 13 April in the seven-match tournament. The team leaves for Abu Dhabi today.

The teams

SRI LANKA ‘A’: 

Sadeera Samarawickrama (Captain), Nuwanidu Fernando, Sahan Arachchige, Lasith Croospulle, Lahiru Udara, Kamil Mishara, Pawan Rathnayake, Sonal Dinusha, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Mohamed Shiraz, Tharindu Rathnayake, Dilshan Madushanka, Wanuja Sahan, Dushan Hemantha, Milan Rathnayake.

AFGHANISTAN ‘A’: 

Darwish Rasooli (Captain), Sediqullah Atal (Vice-Captain), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Mohammad Ishaq (wk), Abdul Malik, Zubaid Akbari, Ijaz Mehri, Bilal Ahmad Tarin, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Farmanullah Safi, Qais Ahmad, Zia Ur Rahman Akbar, Naveed Zadran, Khalil Ahmad, Abdul Rahman Rahmani, Bilal Sami.

IRELAND WOLVES:

Gavin Hoey (Captain), Ross Adair, Ben Calitz, Cade Carmichael, Chris Defreitas, Stephen Doheny, Matthew Foster, Fionn Hand, Scott Macbeth, Tom Mayes, Liam McCarthy, Jordan Neill, Cian Robertson, Morgan Topping, Sam Topping.