South Africa T20s good preparation for World Cup 

by Rex Clementine 

Sri Lanka have to qualify for next month’s T20 World Cup in UAE and the three match T20 series against Proteas starting today will be a fine preparation for the former World Champions.

Sri Lanka have blown hot and cold in the shortest format of the game although they won the event seven years ago.

South Africa will start as favourites with Kehav Maharaj, who skippered them in the last two ODIs standing in for the T20 series too.

A competitive series against a quality South African side is what Sri Lanka will be hoping for more than wins.

There will be lot of excitement among fans after Dasun Shanka turned around the fortunes of a young team.

Sri Lanka will have some experience with the return of Kusal Janith Perera.

KJP was axed as skipper after barely one month in the job. He missed the home series against India due to a shoulder injury and then tested positive for covid. His explosive batting top of the order would be handy. It remains to be seen whether he also keeps wickets.

The opening combination of KJP and Avishka Fernando, another player who throws caution to wind, is a match winning one for Sri Lanka.

There are some other exciting talents who are set to take the cricketing world by storm. Certainly, good times are ahead.

South Africa will be also be pleased with the return of Quinton de Kock and David Miller back into the side. They are two dangerous players in the shortest format of the game.

The final ODI that Sri Lanka won was played on a rank turner; it resembled a fifth day Galle wicket. Dasun Shanaka was lucky to win the toss.

Sri Lanka can take their chances by preparing tracks that turn square. They might even end up with a series win. But they also need to look at the bigger picture; which is the World Cup. They will be getting flat tracks in UAE and they will be better off playing this series on good tracks.