Don’t Count Asalanka Out

Charith Asalanka had a nightmare of an Asia Cup despite the Sri Lankan team eventually emerging as the champions following that sensational victory in the final against Pakistan a couple of weeks ago.

The left-hander struggled for runs right throughout the tournament and lost his place to Dhananjaya de Silva in the last two games of the competition.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has now announced the national squad for the World Cup in Australia without appointing a deputy to full-time skipper Dasun Shanaka. Asalanka was indeed the the vice captain during the Asia Cup.

Asalanka didn’t get many runs during Sri Lanka’s last tour to Australia either, so it’s only logical that SLC has not named a vice captain.

However, the current team that has been performing exceptionally in the last few months is made of emotions and togetherness and Asalanka is central to that.

When Bangladesh coach Khaled Mahmud claimed that Sri Lanka have got no world class bowlers before becoming a global joke, Sri Lanka spinner Maheesh Theekshana on social media posted ‘there is no need for world class players when you got 11 brothers,’ which goes on to show what this team is about.

However, to be the team that they are today players like Asalanka, Chamika Karunaratne and captain Shanaka have been instrumental.

Asalanka who has captained various teams from the junior levels is one of the most respected members of that dressing room and of course he is short of runs at the moment, but during his brief career he has shown that he has the potential to be a world class player, so it’s when they lack confidence that the management around them must give them confidence.

Haaland in wonderland

Erling Haaland has always been a prolific goal scorer for every team he has represented, but the numbers, the 22-year-old has been putting up for Manchester City is ridiculous.

The Norwegian International was signed by Pep Guardiola to replace Gabriel Jesus who joined Arsenal during the transfer market, and while all football fans expected him to be a success at City, no one would have expected he would be on 11 goals in 7 matches in the most difficult league in the world - the Premier League.

Obviously, Haaland is blessed with such unbelievable quality in midfield led by the magician Kevin De Bruyne, but giant striker is well on his way to break some Premier League records. 

The record for the most number of goals scored in a single season is held equally by Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer – both scoring 34 goals each. But at this rate Haaland has the potential to reach that number by January.