Wrong team selection & poor performance as well as wrong decisions taken by the captain are the main reasons for this unfortunate defeat in the WC match played yesterday against Pakistan
We still have a chance of playing in the knock out stage if we can win 5 of the remaining games, if the blunders of the tour selectors are corrected in a meaningful way
Possible two teams for the remaining matches are proposed as follows;
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Proposal 1 Proposal 2
01 DIMUTH KARUNARATNA 01 PATHUM NISSANKA
02 PATHUM NISSANKA 02 KUSAL MENDIS
03 KUSAL MENDIS 03 SADEERA S
04 SADEERA SAMARAWICKRAMA 04 CHARITH A
05 KUSAL PERERA 05 KUSAL P
06 CHARITH ASALANKA 06 WELLALAGE
07 DUSHAN HEMANTHA/DUNITH WELLALAGE 07 DUSHAN HEMANTHA
08 CHAMIKA KARUNARATNA 08 MAHESH THEEKSHANA
09 MAHESH THEEKSHANA 09 RAJITHA
10 LAHIRU KUMARA/KASUN RAJITHA 10 LAHIRU KUMARA
11 DILSHAN MADUSHANKA 11 DILSHAN MADUSHANKA
I trust that the following factors are considered by the Think Tank in team selection for the remaining matches.
(01) Dasun Shanaka should not play in the remaining matches. Reasons are given below and explained in the shared videos.
(02) Selecting a non performing player like Dasun in the squad and appointing him as the captain was the biggest mistake done by the SLC selectors
(03) This mistake will be very difficult to correct now as per ICC rule (but is not impossible) unless Dasun is declared as injured.
(04) When Dasun leavs the squad, Chamika Karunaratne should be brought in. At present Chamika is preforming much better than Dasun as an effective fast bowler who is capable of completing his full quota of 10 overs (unlike Dasun) as well as being an aggressive no 7/8 batter.
(05) Every cricket expert in this WC has admitted that SL’s biggest problem is the lack of aggressive no 6, 7 batters (or a finisher, mainly a batter who has some power hitting ability) to boost up the net RR during the last 20 overs.
(06) Dhananjaya De Silva (DDS) batting at no 6 is not the solution to the problems we have on poor team balance while noting that he is not good as a finisher. If he is in the team he must bat at no 4 or at an above position. But as all the first four/five slots are occupied by proper & performing batters, he cannot find a suitable position in the top or middle order. Beside this is not time to experiment with him as an opener.
(07) In the 2 WC matches and the practice matches it was obvious that a very healthy RR of 7.5 to 8.0 RPO was achieved at the end of 30 overs. DDS’s & DS’s (batting at no 6 &7) slow batting approaches have resulted in slowing down that healthy RR to an unacceptable level of 5.0 / 6.0 during death overs. So for the sake of finding a place in the KO stage & benefit of the country both DS and DDS should not play in the final XI
(08) Other main reason for the defeat was the erratic bowling of Matheesha Pathirana. He is basically a T20 bowler who has to bowl only 4 overs and his major bowling error of delivering an unacceptable level of wide balls has not been corrected by our fast bowling coach yet. By including him in the squad, future of this young bowler will only be destroyed.
By SUSANTHA JAYAWARDENA
