Sri Lanka look to improve T20I rankings in series against NZ

 Sri Lanka cricketers warm up before practice at Dambulla

• First T20I at Dambulla today

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq 

Having defeated a team ranked 3rd in T20 Internationals West Indies 2-1 barely a month ago, Sri Lanka will set their sights on repeating that success against 5th ranked New Zealand when they play the first of two T20Is at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium today. The second T20I is scheduled at the same venue for Sunday.

Unlike the West Indies, New Zealand are a different kettle of fish with batsmen competent enough to play spin as they showed in their recent success in India with the red ball.

Not all the players who played a part in that historic win in India are present for the T20I series, but a few of them are – like interim Captain Mitchell Santner, Glenn Phillips, Will Young, Ish Sodhi along with Mark Chapman and Jacob Duffy who didn’t get a game in the Test series.

Quite rightly Sri Lanka have retained the same squad of players that won the series against the West Indies and will want to continue the momentum they have built in recent times.

Consistency is the name of the game and Sri Lanka had been lacking that in white ball cricket which has seen them languishing at no. 8 in T20I rankings. They have somewhat improved in their Test and ODI rankings (6th in both), but T20I is where they are lagging behind. The New Zealand series gives them an opportunity of lifting themselves up from a stagnant 8th.

“We have made a conscious effort to improve our rankings. Our goal is to get to the top three,” said Sri Lanka’s white ball skipper Charith Asalanka at yesterday’s pre-match media conference.

“When we win consistently and when we go to ICC events, it makes things easier. We have done well in the past in ICC events regularly making it to the semis and beyond. It’s very important to start well. It’s a new series. We have to forget what happened in the recent past. We have to start well and get the momentum going. We’ve started showing consistency in white ball cricket in recent months. It’s important that we give the best 11 an opportunity regularly. Even our players who are on the bench have done well.”

Although spin has been Sri Lanka’s strength it is not likely to play a huge part like it did against the West Indies.

“I feel that the rain will play a role. It might cause some headaches. Then we might be forced to play the additional fast bowler.”

Asalanka spoke of his key fast bowler Asitha Fernando playing a key role in white ball format and also his value to the team in the red ball as well.

“Asitha needs to be kept fresh. We have a good chance to make it to the final of the WTC (World Test Championship). He is equally important in our white ball squad. We are managing his workload,” said Asalanka. “The biggest plus point we have is that Asitha has extra bowling fitness and we have not seen many fast bowlers playing all formats. He has been handled well. When he needs a break we will provide him with that.”

In the T20I series against the West Indies, Bhanuka Rajapaksa who has been brought into the team to boost the run rate in the late order hardly got an opportunity to display his capabilities. Whether the New Zealand series affords him the chance we’ll have to wait and see.

“Bhanuka has a role to play in the T20 World Cup in 2026. When we brought him back into the side we gave him a plan. He has shown commitment,” said Asalanka. “He is destructive as a batsman and he puts in a lot of effort on the field too. He is a valuable asset to the team. At numbers six or seven we lack a bit of power. Bhanuka has both power and experience. He has done the job for us in the past and we are hopeful that he will do it for us moving forward.” New Zealand skipper Santner accepted the fact that Sri Lanka are a very tough side to beat at home having seen his team lose the two-Test series 2-0 just over a month ago.

“The white ball series is no different, Sri Lanka are a very strong team. They played well against a very good West Indies team recently,” said Santner.

New Zealand are sans some of their experienced players who have stayed back to concentrate on the upcoming Test series against England at home.

Santner said, “The nature of the schedule at the moment is such and we play a lot of cricket. A few of the boys felt that it was best to go back home and prepare for the home series against England starting later this month. We have a lot of white ball series coming up. A lot of our white ball players are getting on the older side and when you give the young guys here some opportunities, they will get a feel for it. It’s important to give them some experience under their belt. It’s a balanced squad and we need to adapt soon.”