Friday Sep 20, 2024
Friday Sep 20, 2024
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16 year old Vishmi Gunaratne
Sri Lanka women’s cricket team coach Hashan Tillakaratne said victory in the third WT20I against India has given them the belief that they can compete with top sides and expect them to come up with a good performance in the three-match WODI starting at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium today.
“We know how strong the Indian team is. We have a lot of respect for them and they are the no. two side in the world. We want to play our best cricket to beat them,” said Tillakaratne. “We want our girls to go out and play fearless cricket and express themselves. In the last few games our batters let us down and in the Pakistan tour. In the third match however, they were excellent in all the departments and they performed very well. That’s the kind of cricket we are expecting from these girls.
“They are very talented and if you watch very closely our bowling has improved a lot. Knowing how strong the Indian batters are we managed to keep them to under 140. That’s a plus point for us. I am sure if they play to their potential, they can upset them.”
Tillakaratne said that they had picked a squad for the ODIs but not finalised the eleven for today. “We are most likely to go with four spinners because they are in good form as they showed in the T20Is.” Sixteen-year-old schoolgirl Vishmi Gunaratne came for high praise from the head coach.
“I am very impressed with her. We discovered her about a year or so ago. She was in our squads right throughout. We took her to Harare for the World Cup qualifiers but unfortunately, she could not play because of COVID-19. Then we took her to Malaysia for the Commonwealth Games qualifiers where she played in all four matches,” said Tillakaratne. “We see a big improvement in her. She is a student who sat for her ‘O’ levels two months back. If we look after her properly, we can expect a lot of big things from her and for the team.” (ST)
