Jagath Perera
Sri Lanka Cricket today announced their 16-man squad for the T20I series in Australia, which begins this month.
T20I Squad
Lasith Malinga – Captain
Kusal Janith Perera
Kusal Mendis
Danushka Gunathilaka
Avishka Fernando
Niroshan Dickwella
Dasun Shanaka
Shehan Jayasuriya
Bhanuka Rajapaksa
Oshada Fernando
Wanindu Hasaranga
Lakshan Sandakan
Nuwan Pradeep
Lahiru Kumara
Isuru Udana
Kasun Rajitha
Schedule
27th October – 1st T20I – Adelaide Oval
30th October – 2nd T20I – Gabba, Brisbane
1st November – 3rd T20I – MCG, Melbourne
Looking forward to this series! I hear Angelo Mathews was dropped and is not injured. Wondering if Thisara Perera was dropped too.
Good squad except for two players. Not sure why Sandakan and Show Pony Dickwella is in the squad. Since both Kusal’ s can keep it should have been prudent to select Kamindu and Ramesh Mendis where both had a decent series against Bangladesh A. Both do give options for the captain as both are all rounders but Kamidu nnynumbers as a batsman is quite good. Minod Bhanuka is much better keeper than Dickwella and should be considered as secondary keeper in future tours.
Good squad except for two players. Not sure why Sandakan and Show Pony Dickwella is in the squad. Since both Kusal’ s can keep it should have been prudent to select Kamindu and Ramesh Mendis where both had a decent series against Bangladesh A. Both do give options for the captain as both are all rounders but Kamidu numbers as a batsman is quite good. Minod Bhanuka is much better keeper than Dickwella and should be considered as secondary keeper in future tours.
Hilal
I think Angelo has to be in a super level of fitness when you think about his recent injury issues. Now that we have many young players having fast legs who have come into the team with many X Factors which were really missing in our team two yrs back. I doubt very much that Angelo will play for our T 20 team in future. Let him concentrate in Tests and ODIs. His main drawback batting at no 5 in T20s is playing too many dot balls initially and to play a finishers inning he must come to the wkt at an early stage like at or around 10 overs. It’s a very negative aspect of the T 20 game yielding too many middle over dot balls.
We should not talk about Thisara again . He is the most inconsistent power hitting batsman we ever had in T20 format. Our selectors till very recently were thinking him as a specialist batsman when they promoted him to no 5 & 6 positions (some times even no 4). He is only a bowling all rounder (and not a batting all rounder) and any bowling all rounder should be batting only at no 8 or lower (like Udana). It’s not a surprise for Thisara to fail in his batting as he is not a specialist batsman.
Our incompetent selectors do not have the basic cricket knowledge to understand this simple aspect in T 20 cricket.
Lankan Roy,
I agree on one of your concerns, Yes Sandakan is not deserved to be selected. I would have picked Minod in place of Sandakan or take the most in form offie (wkt to wkt bowler who got many variations) as a17th player. In T 20 format an off spinner who can deliver just one type of delivery (like DDS & Shehan or Danushka) may bowl only one or two overs the maximum.
Problem with Sandakan is his line & length (mostly line). He is so erratic in his line. If he bowls, Aussie batsmen will target him to score over 10 runs an over which will be a problem. Other factor is since we have Wanidu to do 4 tight overs plus 4 seamers (Malinga, Pradeep, Rajith & Udana for sure) there is no need for a second spinner oh include Sandakan who is only a half spinner. But Sandakan should be fast tracked with more coaching to improve his line since he has many variations which can baffle the batsmen.
Re Dickwella and Minod we have to give preference to Dickwella according to his past performances in T20Is/T20s/ODIs/List A matches. I am considering Dickwella due to his batting capabililities and current form as a no 4 or no 6 aggressive batsman (& not on his non cricket habits). Instead of Sandakan if Minod was selected he could have worked to improve on his WK and batting, during practise sessions, or playing in the practise match & the 3 rd T 20 match. However in all future T 20 tours Both Dickwella & Minod (as second wk option) should be given chances to play in the T 20 team