Sri Lanka name star-studded squad for ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024

[Nikhil_cric]

Sri Lanka name star-studded squad for ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024

All-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga will lead an experienced Sri Lanka outfit for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024.

Hasaranga, who was named as the Sri Lanka T20I captain in December last year, will lead the team in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 in West Indies and USA. Middle-order batter Charith Asalanka has been named as his deputy.

Sri Lanka have banked on the experience of veteran Angelo Mathews, who returned to the T20I setup earlier this year in January after an absence of nearly three years. This will be Mathews' sixth T20 World Cup appearance, as he was part of Sri Lanka's victorious campaign in 2014.

There will be leadership experience aplenty in the Sri Lanka setup, with former limited overs skipper Dasun Shanaka also in the mix along with Kusal Mendis (current ODI captain) and Dhananjaya de Silva (current Test captain).

With an emphasis on balance, Sri Lanka have picked multiple all-round options in their squad. Skipper Hasaranga himself is among the spin-bowling all-rounders, along with Dunith Wellalage, Dhananjaya de Silva, and Kamindu Mendis. Mathews and Shanaka are the two dependable pace-bowling all-round options in the squad.

Sri Lanka Squad: Wanindu Hasaranga (c), Charith Asalanka (vc), Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya De Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Thushara, Matheesha Pathirana, and Dilshan Madushanka

Traveling Reserves: Asitha Fernando, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, and Janith Liyanage.

Source: ICC

 

[The Bald Eagle]

The only good thing about this squad is that Hasaranga is leading them.

 

[FearlessRoar]

I sense Wasim Akram's factor in their selection

 

[Cricket Warrior]

The only good thing about this squad is that Hasaranga is leading them.

This could be a worrying sign for them because he remains unfit most of the time.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1790030599870165305

 

[mominsaigol]

@Rana

Bad news, Pakistan missed a trick by not selecting saud shakeel.

Hasaranga will eat the current unit alive, you needed saud to neutralise hasaranga

 

[Rana]

@Rana

Bad news, Pakistan missed a trick by not selecting saud shakeel.

Hasaranga will eat the current unit alive, you needed saud to neutralise hasaranga

We won’t come across him as he won’t be in our Super 8 grounp

Our challenge will be Adil Rashid, Akiel Hossein, Motie, Shamsi, Maharaj

 

[mominsaigol]

We won’t come across him as he won’t be in our Super 8 grounp

Our challenge will be Adil Rashid, Akiel Hossein, Motie, Shamsi, Maharaj

IC. Fair point.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Sri Lanka wait on star quick as selectors mull third spin option for T20 World Cup

Selectors are tossing up how best to balance their XI at the T20 World Cup as the fitness of a key fast bowler continues to be monitored.

Sri Lanka are confident key pacer Matheesha Pathirana will be fit for the start of next month's ICC Men's T20 World Cup as the island nation weigh up how many spinners to include in their XI.

Pathirana hurt his hamstring during a stint with the Chennai Super Kings in the ongoing Indian Premier League and was sent home to Sri Lanka to recover ahead of the start of the T20 World Cup on June 1.

The right-armer was one of four quicks named in Sri Lanka's 15-player squad for the T20 World Cup alongside Nuwan Thushara, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushmantha Chameera and is expected to play a crucial role in their quest for a second title after they tasted success in Bangladesh in 2014.

Sri Lanka's chief selector Upul Tharanga expects Pathirana to be fit for their first game at the T20 World Cup against South Africa in New York on June 3 and believes his side have enough firepower in their pace attack to trouble opposition sides.

"We have players to bowl at the death, but it's in the Powerplay that we need to focus on picking up wickets. So for that we have Madushanka and then as travelling reserve we have Asitha (Fernando)," Tharanga said.

"If we take our side, Thushara, Pathirana they can bowl in the death overs. But we needed someone that could come in if we needed a wicket-taking option with the new ball, which is why we went with Asitha (as a reserve over Binura Fernando)."

Sri Lanka also have a bevy of spinning options in their squad for the T20 World Cup, with Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis, Charith Asalanka and Dunith Wellalage all capable of providing an extra option alongside skipper Wanindu Hasaranga and star off-spinner Maheesh Theekshana.

Tharanga is still tossing up how to get the balance of his side right for the T20 World Cup, but believes playing three spinners in the same XI is an option worth consideration.

"There could be a chance that we play three spinners sometimes. Looking at that is why we picked Dunith (Wellalage), particularly his batting, because sometimes we could go with him ahead of a fast-bowling all-rounder," Tharanga said.

"As for Dhananjaya, we value his bowling. And with regard to power-hitting, we think we can get that from elsewhere in the side. In terms of his all-round input, and taking into consideration the conditions, he was a better option."

With the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup to be co-hosted by the USA and West Indies, Tharanga thinks teams will face a variety of different pitches throughout the nine different venues and teams will need to adapt quickly during the tournament.

The former Sri Lanka captain does expect the wickets in the USA in particular to be quite slow and believes they will be conducive to spin.

"If you look at the conditions in America and the West Indies, most of it is pointing towards the wickets there being quite slow," Tharanga said.

"The Major League tournament was played in Dallas with drop-in pitches. If you look at those, even though they're being brought down from Australia they are still quite uneven and a little slow. This could of course change, so it's a little hard to predict."

ICC

 

[hassan918]

Looks like a decent squad. Not sure, why Kusal Perera isn't in the squad. They may miss his experience and explosive batting at the top.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

Looks like a decent squad. Not sure, why Kusal Perera isn't in the squad. They may miss his experience and explosive batting at the top.

True that he's missing out as he's a decent player when on song. They've not even named him in the reserves.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

SL one of the worst team of the tournament. They must be banned from playing cricket. A pathetic team

 

[Nikhil_cric]

SL one of the worst team of the tournament. They must be banned from playing cricket. A pathetic team

They are ranked 8th in T20I rankings. Might as well not have a World Cup, bro.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Maheesh Theekshana : The World Cup schedule is UNFAIR to us

"We cancelled our training session because of fatigue from travel and the distance to practice.

"I can't say the names but some teams stay in the same place and their hotel is only 14 minutes to the ground. Ours was like one hour and 40 minute"

"We have to wake up around 5am to come here for the match. Then we have to leave after every match because we are playing at four different venues. So unfair for us"

"The flight we took from Florida, from Miami, we had to wait like eight hours in the airport to get the flight. We were supposed to leave at 8pm but we got the flight at 5am. It's really unfair for us"

 

[RidiculousMan]

Maheesh Theekshana : The World Cup schedule is UNFAIR to us

"We cancelled our training session because of fatigue from travel and the distance to practice.

"I can't say the names but some teams stay in the same place and their hotel is only 14 minutes to the ground. Ours was like one hour and 40 minute"

"We have to wake up around 5am to come here for the match. Then we have to leave after every match because we are playing at four different venues. So unfair for us"

"The flight we took from Florida, from Miami, we had to wait like eight hours in the airport to get the flight. We were supposed to leave at 8pm but we got the flight at 5am. It's really unfair for us"

Yep. It's shambolic scheduling. This WT20 is just held to accommodate Indian audience.

You are having morning matches of host Nations of West Indies. Just because Indian viewers can watch the game at 7-8PM. Similarly non important matches are held at regular local times that turn out to be something like 5AM Indian time.

Moreover few teams have to travel between US and West Indies which can be hectic in a tight schedule. Specially considering US didn't really had much infrastructure before. Heck they just had a new stadium built specifically to host India v Pakistan game.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Angelo Matthews (Sri Lanka player) pre-match Press Conference - 15th June 2024

[Reporter:]

It's been a tough campaign for you guys. What do you think didn't go right during this World Cup?

[Angelo Matthews:]

Yeah, I think first of all we've let the entire nation down and we are really sorry because we've let ourselves down. We never expected this. I mean, we came across a lot of challenges but those are not something to sort of worry about, but it's unfortunate that we didn't make the second round.

[Reporter:]

And how important is it that you finish the campaign on a winning note with tomorrow's game?

[Angelo Matthews:]

Yeah, it's very important. I think we can't take any given team lightly. We saw Nepal beat South Africa yesterday. It's unfortunate that our Nepal game was washed out. But it is what it is. We have just one more game in the tournament, and we'll pray for our prides. And we haven't done justice to ourselves, especially the way we played in the first two games. So, it's very unfortunate, we are heartbroken and we are hurting so much within ourselves. But it's another day tomorrow, and then we have to come up against the Netherlands. And the Netherlands are a very, very dangerous team. So, we hope to play well and beat them.

[Reporter:]

Is that a kind of format where any unfancy team create an upset over one of the strong teams and in that context would you say a team like Afghanistan could go on to make a big impact in the tournament?

[Angelo Matthews:]

Absolutely, I mean as I said this format is such where you can't take any team lightly. I mean they come up with, they've got nothing to lose and you can't you can't take any team lightly. I mean we've seen that especially over the last few years also specially in this tournament, we have seen teams beating bigger teams. As I always say you can't take any team lightly, Afghanistan – they have played some extremely good cricket over the last few years and they are a very balanced unit very experienced unit, so if I'm any other team playing against Afghanistan, I wouldn't take them lightly

[Reporter:]

This year you did beat Afghanistan and Bangladesh in bilateral series quite convincingly as well. In that sense is there a sense of disappointment that you couldn’t make it to the Super 8’s and they are there - and overall that there's nothing much bad in the sights, just that the team failed to rise to the occasion in the World Cup fixtures?

[Angelo Matthews:]

Absolutely, that's something that we regret because the way we played Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh in Bangladesh, I thought we didn't do justice for our capabilities in this tournament I mean as you say when you come into a World Cup, you can't take any team lightly but unfortunately the way we played against those teams just before the World Cup and then once we came back here and the way we played obviously the wickets were quite different but we didn't do justice to ourselves.

[Reporter:]

Angelo, currently you are the most senior player of Sri Lanka. How did the Sri Lankan team fail in the World Cup? What do you think about that?

[Angelo Matthews:]

I feel very bad about it, hopes of the team and hopes of the Sri Lanka also has been destroyed by us. So we are so sorry about it and I apologise for that, as we failed to do what we came here to do as a team. I think those two matches were not successful as the batsmen were not successful, the fielders and bowlers did a great job even for that few scores. They did well on both matches and both were very competitive. But unfortunately, we couldn’t win. It’s really hard to come forward in a tournament like this if we lose even one match. It was really hard for us after losing first two matches. And the Nepal match was also unfortunately abandoned by the rain. So, we have left only one match now. We hope to play that well and win.

[Reporter:]

Now when we go to social media or when we are talking to people, the Sri Lankan fans are very frustrated. Do you have any message for them?

[Angelo Matthews:]

Certainly, they gave us a great support, no matter where we play. Even it’s in Sri Lanka or even here, there were a lot supporting us as anyway is possible for them. And I feel very sorry as we couldn’t do anything for them. I want to apologise for that. Actually no one is coming to lose a match. We always try to win the match. So, we couldn’t do that in this tournament.

[Reporter:]

Angelo, most people are concerned about the wide ball career of Angelo Matthews, what to do you have to talk about it?

[Angelo Matthews:]

It’s like this, I play every match thinking it’s my last match. Because everything in uncertain, even our life is. So, I try my best to do in every match for my team. I have no high hopes about playing the next match or a next tournament. So, there is some more time, so there will some things to be concerned about, but until now I have nothing planned from my side. We just need the selectors opinion in the future, before my opinions. So, as I mentioned, I play this game, as I love the sport. Even if it’s the National team or a club team, I play with that love and the bond. As I mentioned earlier, I always think that’s my last game.

[Reporter:]

How are the frustration does the team got as we had to finish the tournament like this?

[Angelo Matthews:]

We are very frustrated as I mentioned earlier a few times. I think in my career, we have never travelled this much for a world cup. It’s not an excuse, but it is about the reality. I think that only Sri Lanka and the Dutch team played the four matches of this tournament in four different locations. As I said before it’s not an excuse, but in my career, this is the most travelled world cup in history. But as I said before, we were not able to achieve our hope as a team or as a country. I’m very sorry about it.

[Reporter:]

So, in the tomorrow’s game, will the structure be different? Will there be a chance for the players who hasn’t played for the world cup tournament yet?

[Angelo Matthews:]

It’s actually something that I can’t answer, it’s a decision taken from the managers a, selectors and the captain of the team. So, I can’t answer that. Whatever the player structure plays, we need to win this game. We have to win that. So, we, as players are targeting to win the game somehow.

[Reporter:]

Angelo, you as an experienced player, our fast ballers, Isuru, Matheesha and Nuwan thushara did a great job even we are now out of the tournament. How do you see their skills?

[Angelo Matthews:]

I think all the bowlers did very well in the last two matches, we saw Matheesha played well in IPL as well. Nuwan Thushara also did well in both this and IPL. They were manged to get wickets for a very little score. I think with the experience from IPL and they used what learnt here a lot. So, moving forward, it’s a really good thing for Sri Lanka. I think all bowlers did a great job. Unfortunately, that was only the batsmen were failed a bit. I think we lost both matches due to the mistakes happened by the batsmen.