Sri Lanka grapple with logistic issues as they fight for survival

 The pitch for the Sri Lanka v South Africa T20 World Cup match at New York was prepared off-site and dropped into place before the game

 ICC T20 World Cup 2024

• Captain Hasaranga admits: “We made a lot of mistakes. We would have got a higher score if we had not tried to attack every ball. We threw our wickets away”

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Being shot out for their lowest ever total in T20 Internationals in their opening match of the T20 World Cup against South Africa notwithstanding, Sri Lanka are going through some tough logistic issues as they try to keep themselves in contention in the tournament.

An early exit is not what this team which has trained and focused itself so assiduously for this world event deserves. But those are the dangers that lurk around the corner. If Sri Lanka don’t beat Bangladesh in their second Group D game on Saturday at Dallas, the chances of making it to the next stage of the competition – the Super Eights will look rather slim for them. Only the top two teams from each of the four groups qualify for the next stage.

Sri Lanka found themselves in this situation after losing by six wickets to South Africa their opening match on Monday on a bowler friendly drop-in pitch at New York where the ball seamed and bounced unevenly much to the discomfort of the batsmen. Certainly, it was not a pitch the ICC would want for a World Cup contest where the batsmen hardly got a chance to free their arms as the bowlers held the upper hand right throughout the match.

The pitch attracted criticism from former South African captain Faf du Plessis who described it as “spicy”, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan who said it was “not an ideal” pitch for T20 cricket, and broadcaster Harsha Bhogle who tweeted: “not sure this is the best introduction to cricket in a new land”.

Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga said that the behaviour of the pitch surprised him and added: “The wicket was not good and was very hard to bat on. Their bowlers bowled really well and ours too, but we made a lot of mistakes. We would have got a higher score if we had not tried to attack every ball. We threw our wickets away. That’s the main thing. If we played good cricket shots, I think the score would have been different.”

Player of the match Anrich Nortje said that it was never going to be easy on that track. “There was a lot more in it for the bowlers. I thought there was a lot more bounce, a little bit of variation as well. One or two balls staying lower, different bowlers getting different, sort of results out of the wicket. At the end of the day, it’s really going to be a hell of an effort to get to 250 or 200 even. I thought the boys bowled really well. To be chasing more runs on that wicket would have become tougher and tougher as we go along. Grateful to the guys who were opening and in that middle phase as well to just knock the runs off as quickly as possible.”

On his decision to bat first after winning the toss, Hasaranga said: “Our strength is bowling, so we thought that we could win the toss, put some score on the board, and put pressure on them. It has worked for us in the past and we have won a few T20I matches. It was a decision made as a team with our current strength. Even bowling second, it took South Africa 16 overs to reach the target of 78. I see there is nothing wrong with the decision we took, but the target we set was not right.”

Wary of what situation his team will be placed in, Hasaranga said, “This was not a good start. But this is early in the tournament. We have three more games left in the first-round. We have to do our best to win them.”

Hasaranga refused to blame the defeat on the logistical troubles his team had to put up with over the past few days where they had to skip a day’s practice ahead of their opening match.

“We can’t say that, but we had tough times, especially in the last few days. We still travel one and a half hours in the morning and we have our first round four games in four venues. It’s hard but we don’t know about the wicket. This is our first game in New York and we have the next game in Dallas, so we don’t know. We played two practice games in Florida, that’s the only plus point we have.”

Sri Lanka meets Bangladesh at Dallas and Nepal on 12 June at Florida before flying to the Caribbean for their final Group D game against the Netherlands at Gros Islet on 17 June.

Out of the 20 participating teams, Sri Lanka are one of two playing their first-round matches at four different venues - Netherlands are the other. India and South Africa for instance play three matches at the same venue and are lodging in nearby facilities.