Wasantha De Silva
We have a 50/50 chance of direct qualification to the world cup, if not we need to win the qualifier tournament in Zimbabwe.
Below is my lineup for the world cup with a simple strategy.
- Kusal Mendis (WK) – Aggressive role
- Pathum Nissanka – Anchor role
– The batters coming down no. 3 to 8, the lineup should change to replace the role throughout the innings. - Dhananjaya de Silva (Anchor)
- Charith Asalanka (Anchor / Aggressive)
- Dasun Shanaka (c) (Aggressive)
- Avishka Fernando (Anchor / Aggressive)
- Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva (Aggressive)
- Dunith Wellalage (Anchor / Aggressive)
- Kasun Rajitha
- Dushmantha Chameera
- Dilshan Madushanka
– From the above lineup, Captain has 3 proper fast bowlers, 3 spinners along with his own MF bowling. - Dinesh Chandimal (WK)
- Lahiru Kumara
- Maheesh Theekshana
- Chamika Karunaratne (Anchor / Aggressive)
For the bench, I will have a fast bowler, wicketkeeper, spinner, and all-rounder. We can switch Dunith and Chamika or Kasun/Dilshan with Maheesh according to the pitch. Chandi was selected since he is an experienced batter that can keep wickets ( we do not have time to provide experience for another WK such as Sadeera)
Whatever team or squad it will be useless if after every series before the World Cup we keep experimenting and changing the top order. Batsmen need time to develop in one position. One reason we don’t have batsmen scoring many centuries is because of this.