Bumpy ride ahead
Ranjan Mellawa previews Sri Lanka’s bumpy ride to the ICC T20 World Cup next year
Since the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup’s dramatic ending and a rather mediocre World Test Championship in progress, the cricketing world has shifted its focus to the next big tournament. The global razzmatazz of Twenty20s will return with the seventh edition of the T20 World Cup scheduled for late 2020 in Australia.
The top eight teams in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 rankings on 31 December 2018 have automatically qualified for the main event – the Super 12 stage. Full Members Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and six other teams that will make it through from the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier, will compete in the first round to fill the remaining four slots of the Super 12s.
Rookies Afghanistan have made it direct to the Super 12. Forced to play in a qualifying round, Sri Lanka will feel humiliated and embarrassed. Ranked the world’s best in T20s from August 2012 to January 2016, they were runners-up in the 2009 and 2012 T20 World Cups, and worthy winners in 2014!
Presently ranked eighth, Sri Lanka’s recent T20 results aptly sum up their plight. At the end of their three match series against New Zealand, the Sri Lankans had lost 10 of their last 12 T20s.
Having left out the experienced Angelo Mathews and T20 specialists like Thisara Perera for the series against the Kiwis, Sri Lanka seem keen to identify young talent ahead of the big event.
Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Dasun Shanaka and Isuru Udana have the ability and experience to perform consistently. And young Avishka Fernando is an exciting prospect with star potential. Can he and the other relative newcomers Shehan Jayasuriya, Wanindu Hasaranga, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara and Lahiru Madushanka deliver, and cement their places in the coming months?
Before the New Zealand series, Sri Lanka’s T20 captain Lasith Malinga spelt out his strategy with the T20 World Cup in mind. “We can’t try out players close to the tournament. So this is the best time to experiment and get the right combination. In a situation like this, some of the seniors will have to sit it out.”
“Therefore, during the first 10 matches, we’ll have to check all the players in the squad and take note of them. In the next nine matches, we’ll have to play with one squad,” he added.
After New Zealand, Sri Lanka are scheduled to play 16 matches before the 2020 T20 World Cup and indications are that Malinga will be retained as skipper. A T20 specialist, his game awareness and tactical know-how have come in for high praise from Lasith’s famous former teammates –
and of course, he proved his mettle in the last game against the Black Caps with a dramatic match winning spell that included four scalps in as many deliveries!
Regardless of his much publicised spats with a couple of senior players therefore, he appears to be the best bet to build a competitive squad for the next shortest format World Cup.
Upheavals have been synonymous with Sri Lankan cricket ever since their 1996 World Cup triumph. There have been sudden and unexpected changes in the administration, selectors, coaches and support staff. Obvious personality clashes aside, so many different players representing the country over the last two or three years is a perfect example of how these changes have promoted various agendas and personal philosophies.
Though Sri Lanka has struggled for some time in different formats, there’s talent on tap. Structural adjustments in governance are the need of the hour, which in turn will facilitate a healthy pool of upskilled players ready to perform on the international stage.
Is anyone willing to bell the cat – especially when national elections are around the corner? Your guess is as good as mine… and that of your neighbour.
Though Sri Lanka has struggled for some time in different formats, there’s
talent on tap