Top order still a concern for Sri Lanka despite winning start

By Champika Fernando in Abu Dhabi

Sri Lanka scripted a comfortable win over Namibia on Monday to get one step closer to qualifying for the main draw, but questions still hang over the top-order batting as they face their toughest opposition in Group A, Ireland, this evening.

A near-perfect combined bowling effort restricted Namibia to a below-par total but a subsequent top order wobble saw Sri Lanka in a spot of bother at 26 for 3 in the sixth over of the match, chasing 97, before Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Avishka Fernando shared an unfinished 74 stand for the fourth wicket to see them clear the first hurdle.
Openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera both fell cheaply, while number three Dinesh Chandimal was dismissed for five. However, Sri Lanka will expect the top order to take more responsibility in the next two games as they look to strengthen their hold in the qualifying group.

Chandimal, a veteran of 60 internationals and one of the two remaining from the 2014 World Cup-winning team, has been a pale shadow of himself, struggling to establish his position in the team since his return to the side against South Africa.

Team sources confirmed Sri Lanka will go unchanged for the Irish game, with Chandimal being told to perform or perish in that crucial batting position. What was more impressive was the bowling performance of the squad. While it was always expected that the spinners will dominate proceedings on a two-paced wicket, the performances of the pace trio were fascinating as they generated some serious speed, making life hard for the batters.
In their combined 11.3 overs, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara and Chamika Karunaratne gave away only 45 runs, an indication of the control and consistency with which they performed in the match.

Rajapaksa, who top-scored a brisk 42 not out admitted that Sri Lanka’s top order was struggling in the powerplay overs, a crucial stage of an innings.

 “We’ve been struggling in the powerplay to get runs and not lose wickets, so there’s a bit of a concern when it comes to the top-order batters – they are struggling to get runs and it is not in our favour at the minute,” 
Rajapaksa, who himself had stumbled in the number three position, said, at the post match conference on Monday. 
“Going forward, we are looking to correct the mistakes from past games. It was a bad day for the top order but we’ll take it in a positive way and going forward, we’ll do the right things.”

“It’s always a learning curve for any team and any individual,” he said. “We can’t be happy with all of the performances because there are many parts we need to improve. But we can be happy about the performance of the front-line bowlers because they set the tone for us and it made it much easier for us batters.”
Rajapaksa has been pushed back to the number five position just as the team’s think-tank did with Avishka Fernando, the opener who is now making the No 4 spot his own with some scintillating performances.
Mahela Jayawardena, who is on a short stint with the national team as a consultant, is credited with these changes and confidence instilled in the players.   “Mahela did some changes in the batting order and my role is quite different to what I did at number three,” Rajapaksa reflected. “There’s much more responsibility in this important position.” If Sri Lanka can fix the missing pieces of the batting order, their qualification could only be a matter of formality with a strong bowling unit to support.

Ireland will come into the game oozing with confidence following their crushing seven wicket win over Netherlands. Their victory was engineered by 22-year-old fast bowler Curtis Campher who did a Lasith Malinga by taking four wickets off four consecutive balls to restrict their opposition to a below-par total of 106.

Rajapaksa admitted that the challenge to Sri Lanka reaching the qualifying round is Ireland.  “I think the challenge that we have to go through is against Ireland,” he said.  Their coach is Graham Ford, who served two stints with Sri Lanka Cricket before joining the Irish team. “Sri Lanka, probably about half the squad I know pretty well, and I know the coach very well. We know they’re going to be a very competitive, energetic unit,” Ford said. “They have had great success in this format in previous years and in previous T20 World Cups, so it will be a huge game for us.” “They have some players that are able to do some unorthodox stuff that make a difference. The lads have got a lot of information on them, but at the end of the day, it is going to be about how we play on the day. We pitched up today and played with real positive energy and commitment, and if we bring that in again on Wednesday, we give ourselves a good chance”.