Batting order unlikely to change for final T20I

Sri Lanka is likely to keep faith in the same batting order that produced sub-par totals in the first two T20Is versus Australia as they head into the third and final game versus Australia at Pallekele on Saturday.

After being sent into bat, Sri Lanka’s batters could only muster scores of 128 and 124 in the two matches, continuing a worrying trend of low scores in the format this year.

In ten matches since the last T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka has crossed 150 runs on only three occasions, with just one of those coming from their six stints batting first.
Assistant Coach Naveed Nawaz, however, said that the home side will continue to back their batting line-up players for today’s T20I and further indicated that even a shuffle in batting positions will not be considered just yet.

“In the past it has happened that batters have been shuffled all over the batting order, and because of that, we have spoken about thinking long-term and giving players time to establish themselves at a fixed batting position and give them that clarity. So, I do not think there will be a major change (in the batting order),” he stated.

Nawaz mentioned that the new coaching unit wanted to let players continue in their existing batting positions before trying out different orders and combinations.

“It has been a week that I have worked with the white-ball side since I have assumed the duties of batting coach; as of now, we have let them continue at the batting positions they were playing in. As we advance will have those discussions, and based on how they are doing, we will look at those decisions,” he said.

While acknowledging that Sri Lanka’s dot-ball percentage had been notably high in recent times, the Assistant Coach said that it was a facet of the game that focus is being directed at with a view to making improvements.

“Usually in T20s, the dot-ball percentage of those batting in the powerplay can be high, so what we are looking at is when it is high, how they would be able to raise their boundary percentage. For those batting beyond the powerplay, it is about how they can find gaps and rotate the strike. What we are striving In our gameplan and spoken about is if we cannot get a boundary on a particular ball, to look at getting at least a single,” Nawaz expressed.