Sri Lanka blasted their way to the Super-12 with three of the most dominating performances in the First Round. They had Namibia, Ireland and Netherlands as their opponents and they bowled them out for 96, 101 and 44 respectively. Most all their bowlers are looking menacing and despite some challenge in their top-order batting they are looking favourites to shock few teams in the Super-12 with conditions supporting massively to their style of play.
Bowling is undoubtedly their biggest strength, and it is interesting to note that along with their spinners, even their fast bowlers also looked deadly in the first three match. Their premier all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga, mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana and fast bowler Lahiru Kumara currently have tournament bowling average of 7.50, 5.62 and 5.42 respectively and got one Player-of-the-Match award each. Even Dushmantha Chameera and Chamika Karunartne have bowling average below 20 and all of them have economy rate of 6 or below. The spinners are enjoying the slow pitches and conditions perfectly whereas their pacers can bowl at 140 plus constantly to keep the pressure on opposition batters.
The lack is in the top-order batting. Both their openers Pathum Nishanka and Kushal Perera averaged just 22 and Dinesh Chandimal was already dropped after averaging just 5.50 in first two matches. They will depend a lot on their middle order batters like Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksha to deliver against the top teams like England and South Africa with stronger bowling attacks.
In Hasaranga they have one of best contemporary all-rounders in T20 cricket. He has already bailed them out against Ireland when they were struggling at 8/3 with a blistering 71. If Sri Lanka want to progress in the knockouts, Hasaranga needs to contribute consistently with both bat and ball.
Sri Lanka are in the tougher group out of the two. They can use it in their benefit but at the same time they have to compete against teams like England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies and Bangladesh. All these teams have some of the biggest names in T20 cricket and whether the young Sri Lanka team can match with those standards consistently that would be interesting to see.
The conditions are going to support the Sri Lankans as their spin-heavy attack should enjoy the pitches in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. They started in a great fashion if they can up their game accordingly against the tougher opponents then can prove them to be the ‘Dark Horse’ in this tournament.
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