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Rival T20I captains Keshav Mahajaraj (South Africa) and Dasun Shanaka (Sri Lanka)
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Sri Lanka winning their last T20I series against India may have given them the much-needed confidence booster following five consecutive series defeats, but South Africa – strengthened by the arrival of wicket-keeper/batsman Quinton de Kock along with hard hitting batsman David Miller and fast bowler Lungi Ngidi – will certainly start the three-match T20I series at the R. Premadasa Stadium today as strong favourites.
In the absence of these three players whose combined appearances for South Africa in ODIs and T20Is amounts to 289 and 166 matches respectively, South Africa lost the three-match ODI series to a young Sri Lankan side 2-1.
The win would certainly boost the home team’s confidence for the upcoming T20I series, but as they found out for themselves in the three ODIs, South Africa, even though away from home, are still a tough nut to crack.
While there are no points to be fought for unlike the 2023 World Cup to gain automatic qualification, this T20I series is important to both sides as it is their last before the start of the ICC T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman on 17 October.
More than South Africa, the series will give Sri Lanka an indication where they stand in T20Is today. The current ICC T20I rankings has South Africa at 5 and Sri Lanka at 9, which shows the disparity between the two sides on form.
One of the key issues that Sri Lanka is experiencing at the moment is that their batsmen have so far not come to the party and put up the scores that are needed for their bowlers to be competitive. In the nine T20Is Sri Lanka has played for the calendar year, they have gone past the 150-run mark only once, which hardly speaks of their batting.
This failure of the batting unit has been prevalent for a number of years, which has resulted in Sri Lanka’s poor ranking and the ignominy of having to face a qualification round to get into the T20I World Cup Super12 next month.
Even on pitches that may assist spin, Sri Lanka needs to put up a decent score for their bowlers to exploit the conditions, thus the series against South Africa will be a test of skill for the Lankan batsmen on what type of totals they can come up with.
South Africa are coming to this series on the back of series wins over West Indies (3-2) and Ireland (3-0), both away. Sri Lanka will be looking to extend their newfound confidence of back-to-back wins against Pakistan (October 2019) and India (July 2021) in their last two T20I series under the captaincy of Dasun Shanaka.
Dushmantha Chameera, the spearhead of the Sri Lanka bowling attack, said: “We are in a good frame of mind having won our last T20I series against India and following it up with an ODI series win against South Africa. Everyone is mentally prepared for the T20I series against South Africa.” When it was pointed out that South Africa have been strengthened by the return of quick scoring batsmen like De Kock and Miller, Chameera replied: “We have analysed the two players and how to bowl to them. We have bowled against them, and we know what their strengths and weaknesses are. We are planning to go into the T20I series with a good plan against the South Africans.”
Hard-hitting batsman David Miller said that South Africa wanted to win the series against Sri Lanka and go to the T20I World Cup with a lot of confidence.
“The last two months before the World Cup have been a huge stepping stone in our T20I campaign, beating the West Indies, which a lot of people thought we were huge underdogs in, and then beating Ireland,” said Miller.
“We are pretty set and ready to go knowing what our roles are before the World Cup. This series is definitely good preparation ahead of the World Cup in UAE where the conditions can be similar. In the last few months, we have been playing spin really well and continue to dominate. There is no substitute for winning series and winning games and making it a habit. We’ve done really well in the last couple of months. To win the series is our prime objective.”
