Asia Cup Review: Sri Lanka tick a few more boxes but the World Cup is still too far away

As evident against Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s recent tours to Australia, Sri Lankan batsmen struggle against both pace and bounce, both of which will be available in abundance in Australia. They will have to heavily depend on their bowling attack, which has three bowlers who can bowl over 140kmph, to restrict the opposition to a score that the Sri Lankan batsmen will find comfortable.

Sri Lanka are in group A in the qualifiers and unless they make the radically ingenious move of intentionally losing a match to end up second in the table, they are most likely to enter what could be termed as the group of death in the Super 12s. Sri Lanka will find themselves with Australia and England and, unfortunately, three of the teams Sri Lanka beat in the Asia Cup would be in the other group. Since only two teams can qualify from each group to the knockouts, the chances of Sri Lanka making it is slim.

But all is not lost for this team. The World Cup in 2024 will be played in the West Indies, where the conditions will suit their strengths and if they persist with the core that they now have and continue to build, they will be a force to reckon with.