"We played extra bowler, we missed runs; when we go with extra batsman, we can't defend": Asalanka on Sri Lanka's struggles

Abu Dhabi [UAE], September 24 (ANI): Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka admitted that the twin dismissals in the eighth over proved to be the turning point in their Asia Cup Super Four clash against Pakistan. Asalanka himself was the first to fall in that passage of play, caught at deep square leg off Hussain Talat when Sri Lanka were 58/3 after 7.1 overs, as per ESPNcricinfo.

On the very next delivery, Dasun Shanaka edged one behind to the wicketkeeper, leaving Sri Lanka reeling at 58/5 with more than 60% of the innings still left. From there on, they struggled to recover and eventually limped to 133/8.

“Although we didn’t get a great start from the openers, at the end of the powerplay, we still had 53 runs. We’d lost three wickets, but we were still in a good place, because it’s not easy to score that many in the powerplay,” Asalanka said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

“But then myself and Dasun got out of successive deliveries, and that was when the biggest damage was done,” he added.

“Neither Dasun or I were going for big shots when we got out. I was trying to put the ball into a gap, but ended up top-edging it. Dasun also played a normal shot first up. But we have to take responsibility,” he noted.

It was Kamindu Mendis who gave the innings some respectability with a gritty 50 off 44 balls, aided by brief contributions from Wanindu Hasaranga and Chamika Karunaratne.

“We lost five wickets in the first half of our innings, and against these kinds of teams it’s really hard to come back from that,” Asalanka said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

“Kamindu and the others fought hard, but Wanindu also got out at a bad time, when it had felt like we could get to 150. In the end, it was not enough,” he added.

Despite strengthening their bowling attack for this contest, leaving out Kamil Mishara to bring in Karunaratne, Sri Lanka slumped to their second successive heavy defeat in the Super Four stage, a run that has almost knocked them out of the tournament.

“We’ve had lots of issues with our combinations, and that’s something we have to get right ahead of the World Cup,” he said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

“We tried going with an extra bowler today, but we lost a specialist batsman because of that, and didn’t score the runs we needed. Other times we’ve played an extra batsman and couldn’t defend a score with the ball,” he noted.

“We need to figure out how to consistently score 180 to 200, and also how to use the part-time bowlers – myself, Dasun, Kamindu Mendis – better. Those are things we need to improve in the future,” he added.

Reflecting on the team’s struggles, Asalanka pointed out that Sri Lanka’s biggest challenge going into next year’s T20 World Cup would be finding the right balance in the playing XI. (ANI)

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