Sports
T20 World Cup in Australia- Chances of Sri Lankan team
By Dharmakulasingham Aiyampilai
The stage is set for the eighth edition of the T20 World Cup in Australia. Host country Australia, the defending champion has put in place elaborate preparation and exceptional Australian hospitality awaits the participating teams and others. The proud moments of winning the world cup in 1996 at Lahore still resonate in the hearts and minds of Sri Lankans. A proud cricketing nation that produced outstanding players of the calibre of Sathasivam, HIK. Fernando, Abu Fuard, Michel Thisera, Anura Tennakone and many others is eagerly waiting to witness a thrilling performance from the young team. Like the once powerful West Indies, Sri Lanka too slipped from the peak. The stakeholders of the game came up with an excuse of transition of the teams after many legends retired. What are the chances for Sri Lanka this time is the question many Sri Lankan fans are saddled with.
Just completed Asia cup unexpectedly renewed the energy levels of the Sri Lankan team and the self-belief has been restored. More importantly, the fear of failure has been removed by the wise words of the coach and the involvement of master tactician Mahela Jayawardene as a consultant coach is considered as a huge positive. Highly respected Mahela’s successful involvement with Mumbai Indians and his achievements as a master tactician brought him many accolades and Mahela was inducted to the ICC cricket Hall of Fame in 2021. Mahela’s tactical acumen is definitely going to be a blessing to the young Sri Lankan team which can gradually and easily acclimatise to the Australian conditions with the input from Mahela since he has been familiar with Australian conditions. Team Management including coach Silverwood, Mahela Jayawardena and others are well aware of the fact that risk management plays a vital aspect in T20 games.
Playing in Australia is all about adjusting to the pace and bounce and the dimensions of the grounds are bigger than many grounds in Sri Lanka and UAE. Sri Lanka is coming off a very successful Asia Cup tournament where the islanders sent shock waves by defeating much fancied India and Pakistan. Sri Lanka do not have big hitters or T20 stars like Chris Gayle, Andre Russel, Hales, Buttler, Suryakumar Yadev, Bracewell, David Warner etc. It is generally believed that batters who can easily clear the boundary lines can win the games. However, the Sri Lankan teams without much fancied big hitters or a local league like IPL or Big Bash reached finals on three occasions and 2014 was another memorable year for Sri Lankan cricket as it defeated the powerful Indian team in the final in Bangladesh under the captaincy of Kumar Sangakara. World Cup winning team under captain cool Arjuna Ranatunga at the 1999 World Cup was disastrous. Seam and swing conditions in English, among many reasons, were attributed to the poor performance of the star-studded Sri Lankan team. In other words, Asia Cup glory in Dubai on 12 September 2022 by defeating the strong Pakistan team by 23 runs can’t guarantee the same competitive performance in Australian conditions. Being drawn in group B with Namibia, UAE and Netherlands in the qualifying round before progressing to the super 12 stage Sri Lanka have the opportunity of playing three matches in Australian conditions. Training sessions and official warm-up matches will help the Sri Lankan team to face the Namibian team in the tour opener on 15th October at Geelong. It is pertinent to ask the question whether Sri Lanka have ticked all the boxes in the checklist.
The batting department is more or less looks settled with openers and the top order. Pathum Nissanka’s technique against pace and bounce conditions and Kusal Mendis attacking instinct with his ability to play pace and spin at the top would provide space for the other batsmen to phase out their innings. Asalanka had a quiet series in the Asia Cup and he is backed by the management since he scored heavily in the 2021 World Cup. Danuska Gunathilake, Dhananjaya de Silva, Bhanuka Rajapakse are all in good form. Captain Shanaka, Hasaranga and Karunaratne could give the finishing touches.
The bowling department is, particularly pace bowling, a strong area for the current team with Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madusanka, and Promod Madushan with all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne and skipper Shanaka for whom Australian pitches may be favourable. The spin bowling unit is as usual very strong in the hands of Hasaranga and mystery spinner Theekshana. The presence of leg spinner Vandersay provides options for team management depending on the rival team’s strengths and weaknesses. Recent fielding efforts by young Sri Lankans in UAE Asia Cup matches have been hugely appreciated by the commentators.
What is of immediate concern to Sri Lanka at this early stage is whether Sri Lanka will continue their winning streak and earn entry to the super 12 stage. The first hurdle is in the qualifying round. Though it appears it is a cakewalk for the Sri Lankan team, the great uncertainties of the game might have a field day and spoil the expectations. Sri Lank has a history of heavily defeating the associate countries in big stages and the current young team’s chances of earning entry to the super 12 are bright.
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Sooryavanshi blitz, Jurel 81* help Rajasthan Royals take down Royal Challengers Bengaluru with ease
Vaibhav Sooriyavanshi equalled his own record for the fastest half-century, off 15 balls, in a six-fest on a flat Guwahati deck as Rajasthan Royals walloped Royal Challengers Bengaluru for their fourth straight win.
RCB hit seven sixes through their 20 overs in an innings where they went all out, seemingly mindful of the challenge Sooryavanshi would pose. And pose he did, hitting seven sixes off his own blade, in a scarcely believable exhibition of brutal hitting.
Reputation counted for little. If it was Jasprit Bumrah the other night, it was Josh Hazlewood’s turn to come under Sooryavanshi’s wheel on Friday. By the time he was dismissed for a 26-ball 78, toe-ending a flat-batted hit to long-on off Krunal Pandya, RR’s asking rate in a 202 chase was just over six with 11.5 overs remaining.
Sooryavanshi’s uninhibited hitting was matched by Dhruv Jurel’s scintillating stroke play, the pair effectively snuffed out RCB’s hopes in the powerplay itself as they plundered 97 – the highest of the season. Although RR lost a couple of wickets in a rush thereafter, the result was never really in doubt.
RCB’s defence was given an early lift when the returning Hazlewood struck in the second over to remove Yashasvi Jaiswal. After conceding a couple of sixes off the short ball, Hazlewood responded smartly by going cross-seam and into the pitch to induce the edge. But the delight at having struck early dissipated quickly as Sooryavanshi seized control by rattling off three boundaries and a six in succession in his next over.
Each of the four boundaries pierced a different arc. The short ball was carved behind point, the hard length into the pitch was muscled over mid-on, the fuller one driven crisply between cover and mid-off, and when tested with the bumper, Sooryavanshi fetched it from outside off and nailed the pull over deep square for six.
And remarkably, it wasn’t just Hazlewood under the pump. Bhuvneshwar Kumar – who had nearly dismissed him first ball with a late-curving inswinging yorker, only for the teenager to dig it out and shovel it straight back for four – was also taken apart. In the fifth over, Sooryavanshi swatted him for back-to-back sixes to bring up his half-century.
Keeping pace with Sooryavanshi stroke for stroke can’t be easy, but Jurel managed it seamlessly, without ever looking like he was trying to. He capped off the powerplay by hitting rookie Abhinandan Singh for a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 0, 6, 4 to end an extraordinary passage.
Jurel’s fast hands were the defining feature of that over – whether it was picking length early to pull or using his wrists to whip the ball into the top tier over deep square. He would later take charge of the innings, tightening his approach after a flurry of wickets, and finishing unbeaten on 76 off 36 balls.
Jurel’s 68-run fifth-wicket stand with Ravindra Jadeja then guided RR home comfortably, steadying things after Krunal briefly stirred RCB’s hopes with back-to-back strikes of Sooryavanshi and Shimron Hetmyer in the ninth over.
RR went through a quiet passage of four overs without a boundary, but the early onslaught from Sooryavanshi and Jurel meant they could afford to play out a few quiet overs fully knowing RCB were a spinner short, as they activated Venkatesh Iyer as an impact player for batting firepower in place of Suyash Sharma.
The match had a blockbuster opening act, with Jofra Archer’s vicious, rip-roaring bouncer sending back Phil Salt for a golden duck. But Virat Kohli fought fire with fire, hitting him for three boundaries in his next over, before Archer struck back to remove the in-form Devdutt Padikkal.
This didn’t affect Kohli, though, as he shredded a much-talked-about matchup with Sandeep Sharma (who had dismissed him seven times in 18 innings) by thumping him over the infield for two fours. But trouble soon came RCB’s way as Ravi Bishnoi struck two quick blows to leave them 73 for 4.
In his first two outings, Rajat Patidar went crash-bang-wallop from the get-go. But a top-order wobble forced him to dig deep. He played himself in, getting to 20 off 22 balls at one stage. And then, three overs later, he brought up a half-century off 35 balls. One of the reasons for this surge was his surety in stroke-making.
The two sixes he hit off Nandre Burger in the 15th had that stamp of authority. A gentle extension of his arms to loft one cleanly over long-off laid down the marker, but the hop back to whip a short ball aimed at his ribs over deep square leg was the blockbuster.
With none of Romario Shepherd or Tim David coming off with the bat, RCB brought in Venkatesh Iyer as their Impact Player, leaving Suyash on the bench. And Venkatesh gave an excellent account of himself on RCB debut, finishing the innings off with a cameo 29 that pushed them past 200.
As it turned out, it was nowhere near enough.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 202 for 4 (Yashasvi Jiswal 13, Dhruv Jurel 81*, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 78, Ravindra Jadeja 24*; Josh Hazelwood 2-44, Krunal Pandya 2-30) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 201 for 8 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli32, Devudutt Padikkal 14, Rajat Patidar 63, Tim David 13, Romario Shepherd 22, Venkatesh Iyer 29*; Jofra Archer 2-33, Sandeep Sharma 1-47, Ravi Bishnoi 2-32, Ravindra Jadeja 1-14, Brijesh Sharma 2-37) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
Brazil are the unlikely candidates to have claimed two cricket records as one of their bowlers took a record nine wickets – including five in a row – in their 189-run T20 Women’s International victory against Lesotho in Botswana.
Having won the toss on Thursday, at the BCA Kalahari Women’s T20 International Tournament, Brazil posted a daunting 202-8 with wicketkeeper Monnike Machado hitting 69 off 41.
The fun, for the Brazilians, was only just beginning, though, as Laura Cardoso claimed a hat-trick with the last three deliveries of her first over – the second of the Lesotho innings – to set in motion the incredible feat that eventually saw the Africans bowled out for 13.
The 21-year-old then continued her wicket-taking achievement with a Women’s T20 International first of five dismissals in a row as she struck with the first two balls of her second over. This was all part of claiming the first nine Lesotho wickets to fall, but being denied the chance to take all 10 after a change of bowling following her third over. Her final wicket was Ret’sepile Limema, who fell to the fifth ball of the fifth over, with Cardoso replaced for the following over at that end. Her nine wickets, nevertheless, is the best return in either men’s or women’s T20 internationals.
The right-arm seamer did, indeed, come close to another hat-trick, when she claimed wickets with the last two balls of her second over, which itself totalled four victims.
Cardoso, who has has taken 55 wickets in 48 T20 matches for Brazil, replaces Indonesia’s Rohmalia Rohmalia at the top of the Women’s T20 best bowling rankings, as she finished with figures of 3-2-4-9.
Rohmalia had claimed seven wickets in 2024 in a match against Mongolia in Bali. Only three other women have claimed seven in a T20 international.
The men’s record, and the overall in the format, had been held by Bhutan’s Sonam Yeshey after he took eight wickets for seven runs against Myanmar last year.
The previous record for the number of wickets in consecutive deliveries was four, and was jointly held with the most prominent occasion in women’s cricket being when Shakera Selman pulled off the feat for the West Indies against Pakistan in 2018. Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan and Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga are among the most notable bowlers from the men’s game to have claimed four consecutively in the format.
Although a huge winning margin, Brazil’s overall win does not compare with Argentina’s record after they beat Chile by 364 runs in 2023. The Argentinians had struck 427-1 to set up their victory.
Lesotho’s part in the record extends to no further than Cardoso’s haul, with the record-lowest total belonging to Mali, who were bowled out for 6 in 2019 by Rwanda.
Brazil, who lead the six-team tournament with five straight wins, play Mozambique on Friday.
[Aljazeera]
| Date | Match |
|---|---|
| May 3 | 1st ODI |
| May 6 | 2nd ODI |
| May 9 | 3rd ODI |
| May 12 | 1st T20I |
| May 14 | 2nd T20I |
| May 15 | 3rd T20I |
[Cricbuzz]
Sooryavanshi blitz, Jurel 81* help Rajasthan Royals take down Royal Challengers Bengaluru with ease
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Showers expected in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, North-western , Southern and Uva provinces and in Anuradhapura, Mannar, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts after 2.00 p.m.
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