Sri Lanka-Bangladesh to play on same pitch as USA-Pakistan

Sri Lanka team on Thursday witnessing the T20 World Cup match between USA and Pakistan at Dallas where they will take on Bangladesh today

• Batting coach confident Sri Lanka will bounce back

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka plays their second match of the T20 World Cup against Bangladesh at Dallas today on the same wicket that USA upset Pakistan on Thursday.

The way the Pakistan-USA match was played it certainly looked like a much better surface than the one Sri Lanka faced South Africa in New York.

There was not much help for the bowlers and the batsmen made decent runs from either side that saw the match end in a thrilling tie with the scores level on 159. USA however stunned Pakistan by winning in the Super Over.

Sri Lanka held a practice session at the venue on Thursday and several of the players made it a point to come and witness the Pakistan-USA game to get some idea of the conditions they will have to face when they take on Bangladesh.

By dropping the first match when they lost by six wickets to South Africa, Sri Lanka are in a position where they must win all their remaining three Group D games if they are to finish within the first two in the group to qualify for the next stage of the World Cup – the Super Eights.

Sri Lanka cannot afford to lose any of their three games beginning with Bangladesh followed by Nepal at Florida on 12 June and the Netherlands at Gros Islet in the West Indies on 17 June.

“Coming for a tournament like this, we will have to face this kind of do-or-die situation. We are participating knowing that well,” said Sri Lanka’s Batting Coach Thilina Kandamby. “It’s a tough game; I know the first match didn’t go as well as we wanted. But after that, we had discussions. We had a good chat yesterday with the boys and they have realised the mistakes they have made. We have a lot of experienced players in the team, and they also mentioned what we would have to do in the next games.”

“We can’t do much here in practice and preparations. But I think the players are in a good mood, as we have won the most recent two games we had with Bangladesh. So, we have that confidence for the next match. They are experienced enough to come back in this game.”

With regard to the opposition Kandamby said, “We have played good cricket against Bangladesh in the recent past. So, we have that confidence and momentum going through this game. The boys know what to do tomorrow. We have analysed their strengths and weaknesses as well. We have played each other more often, because of that I think boys are confident enough.”

Kandamby accepted the fact that Sri Lanka didn’t bat well in the match against South Africa but added, “The way our bowlers and fielders fought back, defending such a small total in New York, was fantastic. Our boys have the confidence. I’m sure the batters have played a lot of cricket, so they can bounce back at any time.”