Cric Guru
STARTING XI
1. D.Gunathilaka
2. D.De Silva
3. D.Chandimal
4. O.Fernando
5. K.Mendis
6. A.Mathews
7. T.Perera
8. J.Mendis
9. I.Udana
10. S.Lakmal
11. L.Malinga
BENCH
12. N.Dickwella
13. A.Dananjaya
14. L.Kumara
15. N.Pradeep
This is a squad that I believe will help us fight in the WC .We need to realize that the only way we might enter the semis is through a few miracles coming our way .
Please note that KJP would most likely not recover in time for the WC and chameera has picked up a hamstring injury while recovering from his ankle injury .
In my opinion UT and Dickwella have been given enough and more opportunities and havent been consistent enough apart from the odd good innings or so .Danushka played well in the NZ odis . And there is no use playing de silva at no.6 or 7 because it doesnt suit his batting game at all and doesnt do any service for the team .In my opinion he can serve the team best by opening and playing a holding role along with chandimal.
No matter how many times chandimal has messed up of late , he is one batsman who has stood up in tough situations in the past and his experience would be vital in the WC because we cant expect newbies with 1 or 2 matches experience to perform miracles at the world cup .We should rely on guys like mathews and chandimal and malinga and have the team play around their experience .Also having a guy like chandimal in the team environment would help stem the disputes that happen within the team because it is quite evident that he is the type of person that can bring a team together unlike mathews or malinga who aren’t quite as vocal and motivating .
I reckon malinga is a suitable captain for the world cup and sacking him now would really dent his confidence as the leader of the seam attack as well .He has done quite a good job on proper batting tracks which are good for run making. His on field decision making has been good which was most evident in the 2nd ODI. The batting collapses cannot be solely blamed on him because the batsmen go ahead with pre set strategies set by the Coach and Co.
Suranga needs to be brought back because his skills and control will be needed as he demonstrated in the SA ODI series which was held in sri lanka last year .However all the bowlers do need to work on their death over skills .
Akila should be played in place of Udana if the conditions suit spin .And Jeevans experience playing county cricket will be very useful for us as he is a much improved cricketer now than what most of us remember him as when he last played for Sri Lanka . Also playing mathews in the lower middle order is a better option because he can stop a collapse if it happens and also would be an experienced player when the slog overs come instead of a hit or miss batsman at the crease .
However , the team overall needs to put some proper skill work and have the batsman read spin properly and leg spin in particular . Because mendis and chandimal have let themselves down due to their inability to read a leg spinners variations .Also thisara perera needs to be taught some common sense becuase whenever he is at the crease the opposition just needs to bring on a leggie and set him up for a googly to have him sky one to the cover region in attempting to bludgeon one to the leg side .Every team knows his hitting arc and this is an issue he needs to watch out for .
The whole idea of playing both dananjaya and chandimal at the top along with oshada is to have them play a holding role and see off the new ball bowlers and take the team close to the 30 over mark because we have good strokemakers in mendis mathews and perera to cover up for it if the proper platform is set for the slog overs. Also playing someone like Jeevan at no.8 would be a much better option than someone like Shanaka because he would be more experienced to deal with pressure situations especially in a run chase .Also he can chip in with some quality part time legspin which wouldnt be the case with shanaka who hasn’t been turned on to bowl of late .