By Champika Fernando in Dubai

Cricketing legend Kumar Sangakkara says the talents of the young Sri Lankan team must be continuously and consistently developed to have the makings of a side that will be a significant force, especially in white ball cricket.

Despite missing out on a semi-final spot, the team’s performance impressed many. And Sangakkara, a member of the Cricket Technical Advisory Committee, finally sees light at the end of the tunnel.

Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs across formats in a 15-year career. “Everyone knew it was going to be a daunting task,” he reflected, in a virtual interview with some journalists covering the World Cup here in the United Arab Emirates.

“There were questions in everyone's mind, and rightly so, as to will this be the right team?” he pointed out. “Are these players capable of competing on the international level in such high pressure tournaments?”

“And what it is that Sri Lanka, as a team with the history and the traditions we've had in top class cricket, really show of themselves in a T20 World Cup?” he said. “It's been such a heartening sight to see the way this team has gone about it. They've played very good cricket. They've looked fearless. They they've looked organized in most phases of the game.”

Sangakkara was a part of Sri Lanka’s many milestones, including reaching five straight World Cup finals from 2007 to 2014 (two, 50 overs and three T20s) before ending his T20 career with a World Cup.

He says that, to stay the course, Sri Lanka should have a strong support system: “A strong cricketing structure and the expertise of the personnel to develop that kind of talent into really refined ability.”

“In terms of decision-making, selectors, or anyone else that decides on teams, they're all based on the best possible information, data analytics and, of course, experience in cricket, expertise in cricket and sometimes intuition and picking talent is essential for that development,” he said. “But then you have to stay the course with them and have the capabilities within both the cricketing structure and the expertise of the personnel to develop that kind of talent into really refined ability.”

Sri Lanka, the 2014 T20 World Cup champions, bowed out of the 2021 edition after winning all three of their first-round games before losing three of their five Super 12 matches, in-between wins against Bangladesh and West Indies.

He admits that, if Sri Lanka’s execution had been better, they could have won both games against South Africa and England.

Dasun Shanaka’s men put the South Africans under tremendous pressure, with 15 runs required off the last over, chasing 143 to win, which South Africa scored with a ball to spare. Sri Lanka had England on a knife’s edge, reducing them to 47 for 3 at the halfway mark of their innings but let that advantage slip in the second half with English batters particularly Jos Buttler insanely plundering the Sri Lankan bowlers.

“That was a game that was really within our grasp to win,” Sangakkara said, of the South African match. “When I first started playing 50-over cricket, we never let the run rate go over six. Now, whether it's 10 runs an over, 12 runs an over, 15 to get in one over, or 16 to get is not a big deal, because they know they have the power to be able to win from those situations.”

“England was a side that looked in absolute control against every side they played, except us,” he recalled. “I think England were completely under pressure and in a very desperate situation. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka couldn't get across the finish line.”

“But, just in those games, you see that we are capable of getting into situations where we can win games from against the best opposition and what we now need is in terms of executing tactics and strategy, formulating tactics and strategy,” he analysed. “Those are the areas that the team, the captain, the coaching staff and everyone will probably concentrate more and more on while at the same time keeping an eye on skills.”

When asked what he would have done differently in those crucial moments, Sangakkara did not pinpoint any areas as it would be unfair by the skipper but admitted they were “poor in execution”.

“When you're watching a game from the outside, you have the benefit of having a wider perspective than when you're in the game,” he said. “When you're young and when you don't have the same experience, sometimes things can get a little intense.”

“I think that Dasun has handled himself really impressively with this young side,” he continued. “There would have been a lot of pressure on him in terms of South Africa. I think the team had the plans right. It, unfortunately, couldn't execute (them) in that last over.”

“Overall, I think the tactical readiness has been good, but that's an area where I think Mahela Jayawardena being there had a huge impact—getting those tactics and strategy refined, fine-tuned and game ready,” he asserted.

“Adding to the experience of the coaching staff, Mahela would have been an immense wealth of knowledge in terms of working with the analytics team, working with the players individually and getting those plans all set,” Sangakkara pointed out. “And then it's about execution. So unfortunately, they were found wanting in those areas. But other than that, they played a great brand of cricket and I think that we can all be proud of.”

“What I love to see is the confidence they have,” he said. “They take the bowling on from ball one. They play very good situational cricket in most times. And the more experience they get, the more exposure they get, more time out in the middle, more time for sitting down and running through data analytics, match plans, tactics, strategy, they would just become better and better. The captain will become better and better, the decision-making capabilities will become better. And when that matches up to this, this explosive, exciting talent that the team has, that's when you get mature.”

“So, like I said before, it's exciting to have these young players, excited to see their brand of cricket and excited to see their confidence,” an optimistic Sangakkara said.

Sangakkara believes the new team culture has helped players express themselves freely. “This new culture is just giving them more certainty, more consistency, more confident and telling them, we value you as players, as individuals,” he said.

“This is what we want to set in terms of the brand of cricket we want to play. This is the kind of excellence we want to have in a decision making process, in a planning process, in the way we play and the players seem to have really bought into that and are really trying to set that culture again. You see on the field this kind of positive energy, always trying to fight, always trying to win, and it's an impact of the overall culture. So every player has a role to play in that in terms of setting that in stone and taking it forward and improving it”.

Having dominated the No 3 batting slot across formats during his international career, Sangakkara sees an excellent player-in-the-making in Charith Asalanka.  Asalanka batted at No 3 during the world cup and was in purple touch scoring 231 runs off six games.

“I think (in addition to) his ability to deal with both good spin and good pace, he seems to have a fearlessness, which is good to see,” he observed. “He's got poise. He's got the game. From here, it's about getting his mental skills together, his game organisation and adjusting from surface to surface, country to country, opposition to opposition. But there's a huge amount there already visible to say that he'll be an excellent player.”

Asalanka was the highest run-getter of the tournament at the time Sri Lanka exited the tournament while Wanindu Hasaranga is the leading wicket taker so far in the tournament with 16 wickets in eight games.

Sangakkara said the Technical Advisory Committee is discussing to set things in motion, to try and support the journey of the Sri Lankan national side ahead of another T20 World Cup next year.

“We have quite a few plans that we've communicated and things that we are discussing to set in motion, to try and support the journey of the Sri Lankan main national side,” Sangakkara who ended his two-year stint as first President of colour at the prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in October said.

“Then you have the A team, the development team and the U19 team. Every step of every side and every age group in that journey is important.”

Irony of fate: Sri Lanka has to qualify for 2022 T20 WC in Australia