Our secret for success in World Cups is absorbing pressure well – Sanath

by Rex Clementine

Sri Lanka’s success in T-20 World Cups is tremendous. Since the new format was introduced in 2005, there have been seven T-20 World Cups and Sri Lanka have reached the finals on three occasions while on another occasion they were losing semi-finalists. No other team has featured in three finals with West Indies, India, Pakistan, Australia and England appearing in two finals each.

One of the team’s key figures during the early success was former captain Sanath Jayasuriya, who played in the first three tournaments – in South Africa, England and West Indies. He was Chairman of Selectors when Sri Lanka won the title in 2014 in Bangladesh.

“I don’t think a lot of people gave us a chance ahead of these World Cups. True, on paper, we didn’t have the best team compared to some of the other sides. But our greatest strength was that we absorbed pressure well. When we are put under pressure, we hang in there and someone gets us out of trouble. We may not have posted big totals. But we fight hard. We stop every run on the field and play an aggressive brand of cricket challenging the opposition to take chances. That’s very important in any form of cricket. To be positive and take away the fear of failure. I guess that’s been our key to success,” Jayasuriya told The Island.

The 2009 World Cup campaign saw Sri Lanka beating some formidable sides. West Indies were favourites and Kumar Sangakkara’s side beat them twice, in the second round and in the semis. They also beat New Zealand, Pakistan and Australia in the competition before going down to Younis Khan’s side in the final at Lord’s. The opening partnership of Jayasuriya and T.M. Dilshan was key in that tournament. Jayasuriya not only came up with match winning knocks with the bat, but picked up wickets at crucial junctures with his left-arm spin.

“I enjoyed playing in England. At that stage, we had not played much T-20 cricket. There were a lot suggestions that we had to improvise. I am not a player who reverse sweeps a lot or plays the scoop shot. I have my strengths and I stuck to my game plan. With my ability to clear the boundary, it was important that I batted deep and when I do that, the team wins. It was disappointing to lose that final. We had played so well until that game. We were unbeaten in the tournament winning six games before the final. But unfortunately in the big game, we didn’t score enough runs.”

“I know I have to do a job for the team with the ball as well. I study the opposition. I have a fair idea of what variation I need to do. My game plan is to bowl as many dot balls as possible. Not to take wickets. You need to be a bit cunning and read the batsmen’s mind. When you have played the game as long as I have, you know what the batsmen is thinking. It’s an instinctive thing.”

Sri Lanka entered the 2014 final against India having lost four World Cup finals in a row – 2007 to Australia in Barbados (50 overs), 2009 to Pakistan at Lord’s (20 overs), 2011 to India in Bombay (50 overs) and 2012 to West Indies at RPS (20 overs). Fifth time they were lucky winning a World Cup for the first time since 1996.

“That was a tournament where we had to do a lot of planning. It all came off and after losing four World Cup finals it was a relief to win that one. That too against India. I had to take some tough decisions. Had to leave out Dinesh Chandimal, who was our captain. That was a massive call. When we called Chandimal and explained the decision to him, he accepted it. Man management is an important aspect when you are managing a team,” recalled Jayasuriya.