Last Man Out
Let me start by saying that T20 batting is very hard. It is a balance between power hitting and strike rotation.As we know sri lankan batsmen struggle with power hitting and strike rotation therefore our batting always fails at international level. And selectors don’t help when they think ODI form or domestic performances can be replicated at international T20’s. It’s clear that captain shanaka needs to find a new plan quickly. People will say it is wrong to chane things on the eve of the t20 world cup. But this is sri lanka cricket a bit of chaos helps us win tournaments!
New opening pair
Kusal janith & wanindu hasaranga
I think we are lacking a opening pair that isn’t afraid to hit the ball in the air.
All due respect to avishka he’s a very good ODI player but he struggles in T20.I think avishka is working out his game and it is not fair to ask the young man to try clearing the infield without relevant practice.
When kusal janith comes back we’ll have one opener that can go over the top. My pick for the other opener would be wanindu hasaranga. The guy seems to have lost focus with his batting. A promotion to the top would help him and the team. Wanindu is someone who naturally hits the ball in the air. Putting him in the powerplay will ensure we get off to a fast start. Scraping together 35 runs in the power play will not allow us to win games.
Banuka Rajapaksa at number 5
I am not a big fan of banuka rajapaksa. Didn’t like the way he used social media to get back into the team. And the selectors over reacted and put him at no3 in ODI’s what a joke that was. No one is saying he isn’t talented but his skill set at this moment is very limited. He is only a T20 player, he can’t handle serious pace, bouncers and yokers are always going to get him out.
The best way to utilise him is to let him play the spinners because he can hit spinners out the park any day of the week and we need someone like that between overs 6-15.
Pick players that can actually play T20 cricket
Can you have a batting top order that has avishka,dds,chandi and charith asalanka and expect to win games.Again all these guys are good 50 overs players. But i have never seen these guys play an innings that matches international T20 standards.
Even yesterday chandimal played a decent innings but he struggled in the powerplay created a lot of pressure for the other batters.He was swinging very hard with minimal results.this pattern is very similar in dds and avishka as well. So there needs to be a fair consideration of how many of these guys we can fit into the top 7 and where they bat.It was a joke seeing dds coming so far down the other day.
Strike rotation
This is not out of the box thinking but i really don’t understand why this issue hasn’t been fixed. Strike roataion creates pressure on the bowlers and they then change lines and lengths and the field. Thus giving the batsmen opportunity to find boundries in the gaps on the field. it’s not rocket science!!.
My experimental batting order would be
1.KJP
2.WANINDU HASARANGA
3.DDS
4.CHARITH ASALANKA/AVISHKA/CHANDIMAL
5.BANUKA RAJAPAKSHE
6.DASUN
7.CHAMIKA
8.LAHIRU MADUSHANKA
Buanuka Rajapaksa has been real disappointment this series, was he’s injury he sustained to he’s finger put him out form, against Indians he looked to be in decent form, but in this series he just looks like he can’t break free, what’s disappointing is none of the deliveries were wicket taking deliveries you could say he was unlucky.
Apart from the bouncer he received from Rabada in the second ODI but at international level he could have played it better.
Hope he comes good, if he will be selected for WCT20 he needs to come good for Sri Lanka.
As I aware Bhanuka never batted this high he’s always had been No-5 or No -6 I highly doubt that he will get that position as Charith and Dasun have taken that position .
Probably the selectors may stick with for WCT20 if we doesn’t come good that’s probably end of he’s international career .
There’s no chance for SL to chase anything over 140/150 , let alone 160 at the RPS unless we get off to a good start in the first 6. Anything over 50 even for the loss of 2 wickets would be a good start. I can’t believe why Arthur and co. can’t make a game plan to win these chases . I’ve seen many t20 chases killed by our side in the first 6 overs itself by SL at RPS or similar bigger grounds for quite a few years now . There aren’t players who can clear the boundary at will like we had in the 2010-2015 era with the likes of Mathews and Perera. Rajapashke and Shanaka are capable, but barely can clear the 30 yard circle of late . Avishka and Chandi literally killed the chase in the first 6 overs in the last t20 . Just because our bowling has got us out of jail in a few matches , we must not forgot that our batting has never been impressive for more than a single match once in a blue moon . Every other time it’s been a absolute failure at some stage or another.
As with the option of opening with a pair than can utilize the first 6 , like the author of this article mentioned excellently , Wanindu and KJP might be a good choice . Just because you need consistency, you can’t keep driving with a couple of flat tires . Asalanka and DDS might in fact be useful in the UAE in the middle over in tackling spin , they are our best players of spin at the moment from what we can see in the past two series. Counting out Asalanka for one bad game is an absolute crime . Banuka needs to be persisted with just a bit more because of his six hitting abilities. Who knows , after all misfiring Mendis was given a much longer rope and the only reason he’s out is because of a smoke lol. Maybe Banuka will seize his chance soon . It only takes one match for all the critiques to turn into hardcore “fans”lol. Below is a good combination that I would propose for a spinning track with bigger boundaries similar to RPS.
1.KJP
2.Hasaranga
3.Rajapaksha
4.Asalanka
5.DDS
6.Shanaka
7.Chamika
8.Madushanka
Can throw in someone like Minod or Chandimal down the order simply for their wicketkeeping .
Thank you for the comments.
Has the final 15 man squad been announced ? I haven’t seen anything official yet. Lol.
Interesting thing you said about the pitch conditions in the UAE everyone automatically assumes that pitches are going to be slow and turning because of the IPL.
But isn’t the ICC in charge of pitches at world cups .Highly unlikely they will spin big as everyone thinks.
This should work in SL favour as long as top order batsmen can utilise the powerplay.