Sri Lanka will try to continue their recent upswing of fortunes in international cricket under new coach Chandika Hathurusingha when they make their first appearance at home under him in the Hero Nidahas T20 tri-series that commences at the R Premadasa Stadium at 7 pm today.
Sri Lanka’s recent success in Bangladesh across all three formats has renewed interest in the game if one is to go by the number of fans who had queued up at the RPS yesterday to purchase tickets for today’s lung-opener between Sri Lanka and India. Bangladesh is the third team in the competition.
A new look Indian side sans several of their key players like captain Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni under the leadership of Rohit Sharma will find Sri Lanka a different proposition when they confront them.
India dominated in all three formats both at home and in Sri Lanka in back to back series recently but a resurgent Sri Lanka came back to their own in Bangladesh showing the dominance that they are generally renowned for.
“If you go by the ratings, India is the no. 1 team, so they always start ahead of the other teams,” said Hathurusingha at the end of Sri Lanka’s practice session yesterday.
“Whoever comes for India is a very strong team. We have to start well because we haven’t been doing well at home. With Bangladesh, because of the last series, we probably have a little edge over them mentally. But still India is the no. 1 team,” he said.
Although India are without some of their big stars Hathurusingha said that he was not taking any side lightly.
“We can’t control their selection. We are playing the Indian team so whoever they play on that day we prepare for them. If the stars are there it’s good for the spectators, but unfortunately at this stage they’ve come with a different team. It doesn’t mean that we are favourites,” said Hathurusingha.
“There is no such thing as a big match or small match. It is just another match for us. We prepare the same for every game. The only difference is we assess the strengths and weaknesses of the other team.”
Hathurusingha admitted that the wins in Bangladesh had brought back the confidence into the team.
“It’s definitely given us confidence to repeat what we did. The players probably understand their roles much better than they used to before. As long as they try to play to their potential, we’ll be competitive.”
“Our preparation has been satisfactory. We got good conditions. In the last few days we also had the T20 tournament - our players participated in that. There aren’t too many changes either. I think we’re shaping up well,” Hathurusingha added. Sri Lanka experimented by opening the batting with Kusal Mendis in the two T20 internationals in Bangladesh and the exceptionally talented young batter responded with two brilliant half-centuries that contributed towards his team’s 2-0 series win. Mendis’ two innings did not go unrecognised for he picked up the Man of the Match award in both games and topped it by winning the Player of the Series award.
“Kusal’s mentality is really good these days. He knows his game and understands himself better. Our coaches have worked very closely with him, and explained those things to him. He has clarity about what he does now. I think it’s the mental stat that’s the biggest factor in his regaining form,” said Hathurusingha.
Whether Sri Lanka would persist with Mendis to open the innings Hathurusingha didn’t explain. “We will open with whoever we feel will play the best. We’ll also look at the other teams’ strengths and limitations before coming to that decision also.”
The national selectors’ decision to ignore veteran pacie Lasith Malinga for the series had evoked a lot of comment on social media about his exclusion.
Hathurusingha however didn’t specifically elaborate Malinga’s future as a player in the team but responded by saying: “Lasith Malinga is a wonderful player - someone who has a global reputation, not just in Sri Lanka. He’s an icon player for the game.
Like in basketball they have Michael Jordan; Malinga is like that with cricket. In terms of form, he has done well in the recent past. I can’t talk about what was talked about at the selectors’ meeting, but I think he can contribute to Sri Lankan cricket in the future.”
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