Co-hosts Sri Lanka came to Pallekelle confident of doing well against an England side which was still not firing in all cylinders. While they won the toss and decided to chase and put up a decent bowling performance to keep England down under 150, the batting came a cropper as the Lankans were exposed against England and their part-time spinners. Sri Lanka were totally exposed and are now in a point of no return. There were areas where things went awry for Sri Lanka and we will try listing them for you.
Losing 5 wickets inside the powerplay almost sealed the deal for Sri Lanka.Â
Sri Lanka did well to keep England down to 146/9 and would have been the happier side at the interval. 147 on that pitch was chaseable and all it needed was a safe sound start from the Lankan openers. They did show signs of promise in the first over or two. But soon, the floodgates opened as one wicket fell after another as there were hardly any good balls that were bowled. All wickets were given away as the top order was blown away.
The opening pair put on 15 for the first wicket before Pathum Nissanka fell and once the form player went, there was no one else to pick up the pieces. The other reliable player Kusal Mendis went soon after and so did Pavan Rathnayake the next ball. Kamil Mishara went early as well while Dunith Wellalage sent up the order also fell as the Lankans crawled their way to 34/5 in 6 overs thanks to some rash shots by them.
From this position, the writing was on the wall. Sri Lanka tried to recover and get as close to the target if possible but they fell short by 51 runs and not getting to 100 either. Sri Lanka have dug a grave for themselves and must come out of it against New Zealand in their next game if they are to keep their hopes alive for a semi-final berth. The Lankans have to improve themselves by leaps and bounds to have a chance of making the semis by winning the remaining two games.
Overdependence on Pathum Nissanka & Kusal Mendis exposes Sri Lanka
It is no secret that Sri Lanka heavily relies on Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis to fire for them with bat in hand. While they win easily when these two or one of these two gets a big win. But if on a give day, both miss out, then Sri Lanka do not have the batting to take centre stage against the opposition. Sri Lanka’s batting with both being dismissed came a cropper and the others just gifted the wickets to give England a big win.
It’s important in any chase to get a proper start to lay the foundation. But it was not to be as both fell for low scores as law of averages caught up with both. As soon as both went, the Lankans collapsed in a heap and it was wickets galore for England. It seems the other Sri Lankan batters did not want to take any responsibility and left the field as the hosts surrendered meekly to the English attack where Will Jacks with 3 wickets became a national hero for his side.
Going forward, Sri Lanka will be hoping other players step up and do well for them in case the duo of Nissanka and Mendis are not able to do well. There are other talented players in the squad and in order to do well, they now need to stand up and be counted or else an early exit looms large for the co-hosts. Sri Lanka needs to pull their socks up.
Dasun Shanaka not taking added responsibility hurting Sri Lanka
One of the other factors to keep in mind and is raging a lot of debate is the captain Dasun Shanaka’s batting position. If Shanaka is playing the game as an all-rounder, him batting at 7 still makes sense. But if he is not bowling which is the case now, and playing at 7, then he is actually under utilising his batting. No one wants to bat low down the order and Shanaka needs to rethink a little bit here. He cannot bat down the order because by the time he comes in, match is done and dusted.
Notwithstanding that Shanaka played a decent knock of 30 runs and showed some fight, but was not to be as it was bridge too far for the Lankans. So, Shanaka is a pure batter and playing at Number 7 does not make sense. No team has a pure batter playing at 7. He may have scored 30 odd runs and showed some fight, but he was always doing the repair work and not setting the chase up. Shanaka cannot let someone like Wellalage who is more of a pure bowler to come ahead of him. Some tactical blunders happened and Shanaka must address these issues before it’s too late.
So, Sri Lanka will look back on this defeat and see areas to work on and how they can get better in the coming games which will be must-win for them against New Zealand and then Pakistan. One hopes that Shanaka takes more responsibility and comes up the order a bit and sets it up for the others to follow after this. Credit to England for winning and keeping their composure despite being under pressure at times.
What Lies Ahead
For Sri Lanka, well they play New Zealand next on Wednesday in Colombo while England will next play Pakistan on Tuesday in Pallekele. All these are Group 2 fixtures. There is a Group 1 fixture to go later tonight as Zimbabwe takes on West Indies in Mumbai at 7 PM IST. Let’s see who comes out on top in this fixture. Tough to call a winner at this stage.
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