With 2019 World Cup qualification at the back of their minds:
PALLEKELE: With rankings and 2019 World Cup qualification at the back of their minds Sri Lanka step into the Pallekele International Stadium today for the second one-day international against India knowing it is a must win game for them.
Sri Lanka was thrashed by nine wickets in the first ODI at Dambulla and had only themselves to blame for the defeat after capitulating from a position of strength at 150-2 to be all out for 216.
“If you look at the past results we have been in good positions in the first 20-25 overs from there are onwards only we have lost the grip with batsmen playing irresponsible shots,” said Sri Lanka captain Upul Tharanga.
“To get to a big total we need the top four batsmen to fire. One or two of them must make a big score that’s what we have seen in the past 10-15 years. If a player gets a century only we can put up a good total between 280 to 300. What I expect from the batsmen is once they have settled in they should bat the entire innings and take us to a decent total,” he said.
“There are occasions where the decisions we take don’t work out as planned sometimes we don’t have the luck on our side. Everyone is putting in their hard work and as a captain I believe that we need to be consistent in whatever we do especially in all three departments otherwise we will find it difficult to win especially against a team like India.
“In the rankings we are in a position whether we will qualify for the 2019 World Cup or not. As a team we go into each match to win. Tomorrow’s contest is vital for us because we lost the first. To qualify for the 2019 World Cup we have to win two matches of the current series. We are all aware what is expected from us to qualify for the World Cup but if we think too much of it, it will affect our performances so we are taking it match by match.”
When questioned whether Lasith Malinga’s inability to take wickets also contributed to Sri Lanka’s defeat, Tharanga replied, “Malinga’s form has gone down from what it was 2-3 years ago. Any cricketer goes through this phase. He returned to ODI cricket after being out for about 18 months. But since his return he has been unable to produce those match winning performances mainly because catches have been dropped off his bowling. But his presence in the team is a big boon to the young fast bowlers who can learn a lot from him.”
Coach Nic Pothas chipped in to add: “We lost some giants of the game in the recent past and leaders within the change room. Malinga is a leader in the change room. We don’t look at him purely from what he can do with the ball but also look at what he does for the young bowlers and, we have got a young mob of them.
“Lasith is a very valuable player for us within that change room. Stats may show that he hasn’t performed like the Lasith of three years ago but we could draw up a list of players around the world who are not performing years ago. What he does add in value is immeasurable. At the last Champions trophy Lasith had 9 catches dropped off his bowling.”
Malinga who requires two wickets to reach 300 ODI wickets had a catch dropped of his bowling in the first ODI at Dambulla when Tharanga spilled an easy one offered by Shikhar Dhawan.
Tharanga said that there will be changes made to the final eleven for today although he did not name it. The likely scenario could be Dushmantha Chameera, Malinda Pushpakumara and Milinda Siriwardana replacing Thisara Perera, Wanindu Hasaranga and Lakshan Sandakan.
INDIA UNCHANGED
Indian captain Virat Kohli said that they may go into today’s match with an unchanged side unless there is a drastic change in the wicket from Dambulla.
“I haven’t had a look at the wicket yet. If the wicket is similar to Dambulla I don’t see any reason to change the team just after one game. But everything is possible we put everything on the table and any combination is possible,” said Kohli.
“I am yet to have a look at the wicket but as I said it was a near perfect game for us… I mean it was a perfect game I wouldn’t say perfect because we came back into the game beautifully and then we consolidated it with the bat. We looked really sharp in the field as well. Very happy with how we went in the first game.”
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