SL on right track ahead of T20 World Cup

The Sri Lanka team reignite the row over the 2023 World Cup timed out dismissal of Angelo Mathews by pointing to wrists during the T20I series celebration victory over Bangladesh

Player of the Match Nuwan Thushara

Player of the Series Kusal Mendis

• Yet to be tested against top ranked teams

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq 

Dhananjaya de Silva receives the Orange cap and Gold medal from Sri Lanka team manager Mahinda Halangoda after he was adjudged the best fielder of the Sri Lanka team at the end of the third and final T20I against Bangladesh at Sylhet

For the first time in their history as a T20 International cricket nation Sri Lanka won three, three-match T20I bi-lateral series in a row. This remarkable feat started with a 2-1 defeat of Zimbabwe and a similar defeat of Afghanistan – both at home. On Saturday, they completed a hat-trick of series victories with another 2-1 win against Bangladesh at Sylhet.

Considering that Sri Lanka were just over a year ago struggling to show any form of consistency in the shortest format of the game, it is a remarkable turnaround. With the T20 World Cup only a few months away the series win over Bangladesh will come as a tremendous confidence booster for the team.

Despite these wins Sri Lanka remain ranked 8th in the ICC T20I standings, because the countries they have beaten are all ranked below them – Bangladesh (9th), Zimbabwe (10th) and Afghanistan (12th).

The Bangladesh series was Sri Lanka’s last before the World Cup so they will have not any chance of testing themselves against a higher ranked country before the big event.

What the three series has shown is that this squad of players are beginning to gel as a team and the closeness of some of the matches exhibit their ability to come out of pressure situations even when the chips are down.

What the players must be circumspect about is that the wins although it’s good for their morale does not in any way give an indication that everything is tickety-boo with the team. Until you start beating the big boys of T20I cricket – countries like India, Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa one cannot judge how good a side you are. So, let’s not just get too carried away by the victories. Let’s savour the wins for the time being.

What has once again made Sri Lanka a competitive side is that their fielding has shown vast improvement from what it was four months ago when they spilled a record 16 catches in the Cricket World Cup in India. What fielding has done to Sri Lanka is that you see tall fast bowlers like Binura Fernando, who are generally slow movers, throwing themselves around the boundary line to stop fours.

Credit for the turnaround in fielding should be given to the national team’s fielding coach Upul Chandana and Anton Roux from South Africa who is attached to the High-Performance Centre (HPC) in Khettarama. It was after their appointments that the fielding started to turn a new leaf. The recognition of the best Sri Lankan fielder for each match introduced from the Bangladesh T20I series is also another added incentive to improve fielding standards. It has been won by three different players – Charith Asalanka (1st T20I), Avishka Fernando (2nd T20I) and Dhananjaya de Silva (3rd T20I).

What Nuwan Thushara’s coming of age performance in the third T20I against Bangladesh has done to the team is it has made Sri Lanka’s T20I bowling attack one of the most potent ones for the World Cup. If the bowlers can keep themselves clear of injury, they have the strike force to run through any batting side. Thushara who had only six T20I wickets in seven matches prior to Saturday’s game, shot into prominence with his first five-fer in this format which included a hat-trick making him the fifth Sri Lankan bowler to achieve it. 

The batting, after a really hard struggle over the years seems to be settling down although it is yet not convincing and there is a lot of room left for improvement. That Sri Lanka won the series against Bangladesh without their prolific opening batsman Pathum Nissanka is a big plus mark for them. Kusal Mendis was at his imperious best standing head and shoulders above the rest with an aggregate of 181 runs (avg. 60.33) inclusive of two fifties and an impressive strike rate of 160.17. In Nissanka’s absence Sri Lanka tried out Avishka Fernando for the first two matches and promoted Dhananjaya de Silva for the third without much success. Mendis and Nissanka could make a formidable opening pair for the World Cup.

The presence of experienced all-rounders Angelo Mathews and Dasun Shanaka gives the captain Wanindu Hasaranga a lot of options and a cushion to rotate his bowlers around. While Mathews picks up wickets upfront Shanaka has in the Bangladesh series shown that he can bowl the crucial overs at the death and prove very effective. Both Mathews and Shanaka are also capable of finishing off an innings with the bat quite efficiently.

The pieces of the jigsaw have gradually started to fall into place, and one hopes by the time the World Cup comes around, it will be a complete picture.

Sri Lanka T20I cricketers Nuwan Thushara, Dasun Shanaka and Matheesha Pathirana returned home at the completion of the series against Bangladesh.

Five Sri Lankan bowlers have achieved the hat-trick in T20 International with Lasith Malinga doing it twice