Lankan skipper rues preparing spinning tracks for T20I series

Sri Lanka white ball skipper Dasun Shanaka (2nd right) has more problems to tackle in T20Is than in the ODIs

• Batting is not a problem that happened overnight, it has been there for years: Shanaka

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

White ball skipper Dasun Shanaka said that had Sri Lanka prepared good wickets for the T20I series against South Africa his team could have performed much better.

Sri Lanka lost all three matches on slow turning tracks to be outplayed in their own backyard by a South African team that had done their homework well on how to play and bowl on subcontinent pitches, better than the home team. In fact, the South African batters and spinners outshone the Sri Lankans in all three T20Is to take the series 3-0.

“We prepared spin tracks against South Africa but credit should go to their batsmen, they had a lot of experience having played in franchise tournaments like the IPL, and they had a good batting line-up,” said Shanaka.

Buoyed by their 2-1 success in the ODI series where they beat South Africa on slow turners, Sri Lanka went ahead with the same ploy of trying to outmanoeuvre the opposition in the shortest format as well. But much to their disappointment the strategy backfired on them. With two of the best T20I players in the business Quinton de Kock and David Miller back in their side South Africa were a totally different team to what they were in the ODIs. 

But in fact it was not so much the presence of De Kock or Miller that swayed the series South Africa’s way, but the inferior batting of Sri Lanka who could come up with modest totals of only 135-6, 103 and 120-8 that hardly gave their bowlers any chance against the opposition.

“If you take our recent matches not only in this series we have been having this problem, but for the last so many years. If you take the last time we scored 180 it may be a long time back. This is not a problem that has happened overnight but over a period of time,” said Shanaka.

“I expected a better performance from the batsmen. We played the T20I seriest20 on spinning tracks. Their spinners bowled better than ours in good areas and they didn’t give any opportunities for our batsmen to score runs easily. We have to correct our flow before going to the T20 World Cup. It’s not that we cannot do it, we need to click in one match and we can then have the flow. 

“The two practice matches against Oman are very important for us to judge our performances. Our batting unit is not a bad one, we know the sort of players we have like Kusal Perera, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and the rest of the batters. We know what our strength is. These types of losses can happen.”

“I did not get the runs I expected from Bhanuka in this series. We know what type of player he is. He is a player who can turn the game around with his bat. I don’t have any doubts with him going forward. I am confident that he will produce the runs that are required from him. If you take the batting order the batsmen are good. We shuffled the order around to find who is good in the respective positions. In the matches leading to the T20 World Cup we are hoping to go with a stable batting line-up.”

Shanaka said that they were hoping to have a settled batting order from the matches against Oman. “Because of Kusal Perera’s injury and him contracting COVID-19 we were unable to get our top order combinations right. I hope from the Oman matches we can settle into a permanent batting order.”

Sri Lanka are due to play Oman in two practice games on 7 and 9 October before moving into the T20 World Cup where they have to play three qualifying round games against Ireland, Netherlands and Namibia to get into the Super12.

About his own personal batting form, Shanaka said: “In T20 cricket my role is to play from 12th till the 20th overs. In the second T20 I had an opportunity to express myself but I got out to a good ball. It’s not only me, if the other batsmen also fulfil their roles in the batting order it will make my job easy. It’s like a chain for the wheels to turn, everyone has to contribute.”

Despite having equalled the record for the most number of wins by a South African team with seven in a row after defeating Sri Lanka in the third and final match at the R Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday, head coach Mark Boucher still feels that they are yet not a finished product.

“This team realised that we are definitely not the finished product, so there’s a lot of things we speak about,” said Boucher. “We had a good chat about the lessons we’ve learnt and where we want to go as a team. We tied the record for the most T20 wins by a South African team. That was one of the records that we were playing for. We understand that going into a World Cup each game is as important as the others and this becomes a habit. This is just part of the growth of the team.”

By beating Sri Lanka 3-0 South Africa have completed a streak of T20I series wins having beaten West Indies (3-2) and Ireland (3-0), all away from home.

Boucher said his main concern was the players going to play in the IPL. “We’ve spoken to the guys going to the IPL. They need to stay quite disciplined and realise we want to peak at the right time as a unit. They’ll be picking up bits of information about playing in those conditions that will really get them ready for a big tournament and if they manage themselves well and get some good time in the nets and get used to facilities it will stand us in good stead. It will be a great experience as long as guys look after themselves and peak at the right time.”

Joining the two Sri Lankan players Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera for the IPL are South African frontline quicks Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi (who missed the Sri Lankan tour for personal reasons) and Anriche Nortje along with star batter Quinton de Kock, in-form Aiden Markram and all-rounder David Miller who didn’t figure in the Sri Lankan series after the first game due to a quad niggle.