Emergence of younger players augurs well for future

Rex Clementine in Sharjah

Irrespective of whether Sri Lanka go through to the semi-finals of the ICC T-20 World Cup or not, there is a lot to be happy about given the way they have gone about things in this campaign. The emergence of several young players augurs well moving forward.

Former under-19 skipper Charith Asalanka has been the find of the competition with his match winning knock against Bangladesh and an equally gutty effort against a formidable Australian side.

There is not much style associated with the diminutive left-hander like with the most cases of lefties but he is mighty effective with a fine ability to adapt to the situation. A smart thinker of the game, he not only used the shorter boundaries on one side against Bangladesh to good effect but had identified which bowlers to target and went after them leaving aside Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib Al Hasan.

No such caution against the Aussies though. The first ball he faced, the might of Pat Cummins, he pulled for four. The next ball he smashed another boundary, this time on the off-side. The next over Aussies took a gamble by introducing Glenn Maxwell during the Power Plays but that over cost them 16 runs. A good player with a fine game sense, you will see him playing a lot more for Sri Lanka.

There is also Pathum Nissanka, who had a dream debut in the Caribbean. Although he has not been heavily used in the T-20 format before the World Cup, in this campaign he has given the team some good starts top of the order including a match winning half-century against Ireland.

Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga has won Sri Lanka games with the ball and now he has started winning games with the bat too doing a terrific job in his new role as ‘floater’. It is his bowling that has improved immensely over the last few months and he is going to be a terrific player moving forward.

Avishka Fernando, another young player in the side, is yet to fire in the World Cup and like Hasaranga he is going to be Sri Lanka’s key batsman along with Asalanka and Nissanka in white ball cricket for the next decade or so.

Something that Sri Lanka need to work on is that apart from Hasaranga none of the young players are electric fielders. Usually, when young Sri Lankans come into the equation, they are quality fielders but not anymore. That certainly is an area that needs improvement.