Dasun Shanaka’s got 99 problems, and the pitch is also one. If cricket writers misappropriating Jay Z lyrics from 22 years ago is getting kind of old, so is the complaint, sadly. For years now, Sri Lanka’s captains have been campaigning to get more batting-friendly tracks on the island. For years now, surfaces have been given to substantial spin, depressing totals while envenoming spinners through the middle overs, especially.

At the World Cup, though, a struggling Sri Lankan captain hopes his batters can perform on what he thinks will be better tracks. Sri Lanka arrive at this tournament fresh from a 3-0 bruising at home at the hands of England. Shanaka’s own returns in that recent series were modest. His scores were 20 off 16, 1 and 4.

“I think in this World Cup the ICC has told the groundstaff that they have to leave a certain amount of grass on the pitch,” Shanaka said. “Because of that, I think the number of dismissals will fall. Eventually, I’d like to get a good track on which to show how I can bat, because it’s harder to showcase my striking ability on turning wickets. Lots of people see me negatively because of this.”

Not many are giving Sri Lanka a fighting chance in this World Cup after being handed a 3-0 whitewash by England on the eve of the tournament. Yet, with a core that has been together for five years and the comfort of home conditions under their spikes, they will quietly fancy sneaking into the second round at the very least. The campaign gets underway on Sunday when they lock horns with Ireland at the RPS.

After the opener, the former champions shift base to Kandy where Oman await on February 12, followed by the heavyweight bout against Australia. They then return to Colombo to face Zimbabwe in the final group fixture. Apart from the Aussies, the other three sides sit below Sri Lanka in the rankings, reason enough for the hosts to believe they can punch above their recent weight.

Ideally, the team would have liked to go in with a settled deck. The chopping and changing of selectors and captain has hardly gone down well with the public, although Charith Asalanka’s excesses left the authorities with something of a Hobson’s choice. Whether they should have held their nerve until the World Cup was done and dusted instead of twisting the knife remains a question that refuses to go away.

Dasun Shanaka, the man recalled to replace Asalanka, has been around this block before and rarely set the field alight as leader. What he brings to the table is well known, as are his frailties with the bat, particularly against wrist spin. Should he fail to strike form, the selectors may be forced into a 2014-style déjà vu, leaving the captain cooling his heels outside the playing XI. The trouble is, there is no obvious skipper in waiting to take the reins if that storm breaks.

The panel has also copped flak for plucking Dhananjaya de Silva out of thin air. It is widely believed his recall came at the behest of a fast-bowling guru who has now begun offering batting sermons as well. That is precisely why a selection committee needs a spine of its own, rather than dancing to every passing tune.

Sri Lanka had been making steady, if unspectacular, strides in white ball cricket without exactly setting the stage ablaze. Their blueprint was clear, big runs from Pathum Nissanka at the top, Matheesha Pathirana creating mayhem with his slingy darts and a spin attack marshalled by Wanindu Hasaranga. With that backbone, a few rubs of the green might have made them serious dark horses. Instead, they pressed the panic button with the World Cup on the doorstep and now appear a touch disjointed and disoriented.

What tilts the scales in their favour is a gentle runway – fixtures against Ireland and Oman before they enter the sharp end against Australia. For now, the fans seem to have voted with their feet, but one statement win over the Aussies could have them flocking back in droves. After all, it’s a funny old game.

by Rex Clementine

Ten years on from their improbable run to the World T20 final in Kolkata, England return to India with quiet expectation. While controversy swirls around their captain, Harry Brook, and what he did and did not get up to outside a nightclub on Halloween, the team that he oversees has found some stillness in the eye of the storm. With 10 wins in their last 11 completed T20Is, they are as ready as they can be for the challenge that lies ahead.

So too, for that matter, are their opening-night opponents. Eighteen months ago in St Vincent, Nepal came within a whisker of a stunning upset against the eventual World Cup finalists, South Africa. They return to the T20 World Cup stage with a battle-hardened unit, forewarned of the pressures but with proof of their worthiness, and with two successful seasons of the Nepal Premier League under their belts to rehearse those big-match moments.

Like England, they arrive on an impressive run of recent form, albeit six wins out of six against the likes of Kuwait, Japan and Qatar in September’s qualifying tournament isn’t exactly apples and pears. Nevertheless, they are here on merit, and very much on the rise, with a young, established captain in Rohit Paudel, and an attacking array of bowlers including the nippy Karan KC. A maiden international against England will be a proud moment in their development, but there’s no reason to believe they should be daunted.

England have endured enough Associate hiccups down the years to take nothing for granted. But their confidence for this campaign won’t simply be derived from their run of recent form. Their range of contributors has arguably been the most heartening aspect, with their spinners finding form and impact throughout the Sri Lanka series, including the back-up offerings of Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell, while their batting has shown depth, power and versatility ever since the summer, when – against South Africa at Old Trafford – they recorded the first 300-plus total in a Full Members’ T20I.

Brook would love to be able to parade England’s T20I form as proof of their progress since he took over as white-ball captain. Unfortunately, those issues of team culture will not go away in what he admits has been a ‘horrendous’ few weeks for him, which means this is perhaps not the ideal moment for his overdue return to India. Unusually for a modern-day superstar, Brook is a relative stranger in these parts. He missed England’s last tour on compassionate grounds, and is currently serving a two-year ban from the IPL for reneging on his deal with Delhi Capitals. His solitary season, for Sunrisers Hyderabad, consisted of 90 runs in ten innings … and a startling 55-ball hundred against KKR, after which he missed his chance to endear himself to the locals by hitting out instead at his critics. He’ll doubtless have similar urges in the coming weeks, if he gets half a chance. It promises to be eventful, one way or another.