Sports
Tactical errors cost Sri Lanka dearly
Rex Clementine in Miami
This year, Sri Lanka recorded series wins over both Bangladesh and Afghanistan in T-20 cricket. Yet, it is those two teams that are sitting pretty in the World Cup here in US. While Afghanistan stunned New Zealand, Bangladesh overcame Sri Lanka and nearly pulled off an upset win over formidable South Africa.
Such is the brutality of the T-20 format. A few errors could cost you dearly and suddenly you are under the pump facing elimination from the competition.
T-20s nature is such that you need to make decisions quickly and the wrong move could spell disaster. Babar Azam, Pakistan’s captain gambled by entrusting Mohammad Amir the Super Over during their shock defeat to USA. In hindsight, he must be thinking that Shaheen Afridi or Naseem Shah would have been the better option. He didn’t have much time to think before entrusting Amir with the crucial over.
S
imilarly, Mohamad Rizwan’s decision to take on Jasprit Bumrah of all people in the epic clash against India changed the outcome of that fixture and Pakistan are now doomed.
Sri Lanka do still have an outside chance provided they win their next two games – against Nepal in Miami and Netherlands in St. Lucia by handy margins. Then, they’ve got to hope that Netherlands beat Bangladesh. Possible, but the odds are many.
Sri Lanka’s decision to bat first in New York on an unknown batting strip has come under heavy flak. Yet, even after deciding to take first strike, if the team had assessed the conditions that this was not a 160 wicket but 120 would do the job, they would be breathing easy.
Too many batters got out playing flashy shots. The wicket was too paced and like Australian cricket grounds these are massive playing fields. Clearing the boundary is quite a task. Grinding, rotating the strike and converting ones into twos putting the fielders under pressure would have been the order of the day.
Bangladesh’ bowling resources aren’t challenging as South Africa’s and you expected at least in Dallas that the batters would learn the lessons. But several of them gave it away trying to clear the boundary.
Charith Asalanka so far has been given a lot of credit for the composure he shows in the middle and many have tipped him as captain in waiting. But his decision making on this tour has been shocking and disappointing.
Rohit Sharma’s bowling changes against Pakistan were quite inspiring and Wanindu Hasaranga has got a lot to learn from the Indian captain.
While the fans at home are bitterly disappointed with the outcome of the two games so far, that’s the nature of T-20 cricket. One blunder and you are staring down the barrel. Sri Lanka are a far batter side than what they have showcased. They need to bounce back. But now, everything is not in their hands.
Thirteen years and more than 80 Tests into his international career, Dinesh Chandimal is in the throes of something brand new, in the same country he had debuted in.
At his best, Chandimal is a free spirit – the kind of batter who goes out looking for run-scoring opportunities, then throws his entire body behind the aggressive shots.
The lofted hits down the ground struck so vigorously his helmet shifts on his head, the back arched as he spanks a ball through the covers, the big slog sweeps in which he almost loses his balance – these are all hallmarks of his greatest innings.
But now there is need for him to be a different sort of player entirely. The rocket-fuelled arrival of Kamindu Mendis means someone had to move up the order to No. 3. Chandimal was thriving at No. 5, a position in which he averages 50.29n and from where he had scored seven of his 15 centuries, and a double-century.
But Sri Lanka needed Kamindu to move up, and Chandimal made way.
“When the selectors and coach asked me to move up to No. 3, it was a new thing for me as well, because I’d only ever batted one innings at No. 3,” Chandimal told ESPNcricinfo. “I told them to give me a day to think about it. So I thought, well, I’m nearing the end of my career, and we need to groom youngsters. No. 3 is a big challenge, and that you face the new ball and fresh bowlers.”
Batting No. 3 is notoriously difficult in a place such as South Africa. The first Test of this series was a case in point: Sri Lanka were guilty of playing too many aggressive strokes in their nosedive to 42 all out. “Batting at No. 3, you have to leave a lot of balls, and your forward defence has to be solid. Those are the things to tighten, and those are the biggest challenges for me.”
Beyond this, on this particular tour, Sri Lanka are facing an exceptionally tall seam attack. Marco Jansen is a little taller than two metres. Kagiso Rabada stands a shade higher than 1.9 metres. Sri Lanka were perhaps guilty of not leaving as many balls on length as they could have, but they are also dealing with unusual trajectories.
“In Sri Lanka, we don’t have fast bowlers like that – with this kind of height,” Chandimal said. “So there’s no way to train against those kinds of release points. They get a foot or a foot-and-a-half of extra bounce. That is why it’s tough for us to judge.
“It’s on length that you have to leave the ball, often. With a normal bowler, the ball has to pitch a little shorter for us to be able to leave on length. But with these bowlers, even if they pitch a couple of feet fuller than that, you can probably leave it based on length. If we get better at judging that length, we will be able to handle these bowlers much better.”
Of Sri Lanka’s batters in Durban, Chandimal was the best at negotiating that bounce. Though he was out for a duck to a spectacular inseaming delivery from Jansen in the first innings, Chandimal was Sri Lanka’s best batter in the second dig. Arriving at the crease in the fifth over, he struck 83 off 174 deliveries.
“When you play here, it’s not good to be tentative,” Chandimal said. “If you play a forward defence, you have to commit to it. If you play a shot you have to commit. And if you leave it, it’s the same. It’s that tentativeness that can get you.
Part of that commitment will have flowed down from the management. When they asked him to bat No. 3, Sri Lanka coach Sanath Jayasuriya the selectors, and captain Dhananjaya de Silva had assured him they would not abandon him if the experiment went badly.
“They gave me a lot of confidence that as long as they’re around, they
will back me, whether or not the runs were coming at No. 3,” Chandimal said. “It’s when there’s trust inside the team like that, that we are able to take decisions without being afraid.”
In any case, If there is some spice in the Gqeberha pitch, as there is likely to be, Sri Lanka will be desperate for more such innings from their new No. 3. “There are some things you have to do for the team and for the future of Sri Lankan cricket, rather than thinking of yourself. I think I’ve always thought about Sri Lankan cricket first. I won’t complain about batting at No. 3. I’ll just take it as a challenge.”
(Cricinfo)
Jayden Seales registered astonishing figures of 15.5-10-5-4 as West Indies bowled out Bangladesh for 164 on the second day of the second Test at Sabina Park. Seales’ bowling figures were the most economical in Test cricket since 1977 (minimum 60 balls). In response, West Indies lost Mikyle Louis early but Kraigg Braithwaite and Keacy Carty took them to 70 for 1 before bad light forced early stumps for the second successive day.
It was Shamar Joseph, though, who first rocked the Bangladesh innings. At one stage, the visitors were 83 for 2. In the next 34 balls, they collapsed to 98 for 6 as Shamar picked up three of the four wickets to fall.
He first ended a patient stand of 73 between Shadman Islam and Shahadat Hossain by castling the latter for 22. Soon after, he had Jaker Ali caught behind with a short ball. The batter was late on the pull; he top-edged it onto his shoulder and the ball lobbed behind the stumps for an easy catch to Joshua Da Silva.
In his next over, Shamar found the outside edge of Shadman to provide Da Silva his fourth catch of the innings. In between, Seales had Litton Das caught at first slip for 1.
After lunch, however, Shamar and Alzarri Joseph overused the short-ball ploy against Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam. The two batters hung around for 116 balls and added 41. Eventually, Taijul fended a short ball from Alzarri to third slip.
Seales then snared the last three wickets for five runs. Taskin was the first to depart. He tried to pull a short ball but the edge flew behind the stumps. Da Silva leapt and parried it towards second slip where Alick Athanaze dived backwards to pouch it with both hands.
Seales had Mehidy top-edging a hook into the hands of fine leg in the same over before uprooting Nahid Rana’s leg stump to wrap up the innings.
The Bangladesh seamers also started miserly, giving away only 16 runs in the ten overs before tea. After tea, Rana breached the 150kph mark multiple times and had Louis caught behind for 12.
Taijul also found help from the surface. Neither Brathwaite nor Carty could get him away. Seven of Taijul’s ten overs were maidens but he could not pick up a wicket.
Brief scores:
West Indies 70 for 1 in 37 overs (Craigg Brathwaite 33*, Nahid Rana 1-28) trail Bangladesh164 in 71.5 overs (Shadman Islam 64, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 36; Jayden Seales 4-05, Shamar Joseph 3-49) by 94 runs
[Cricinfo]
Rex Clementine
in Durban
Sri Lanka’s former captain, Dinesh Chandimal, didn’t mince his words after his team was skittled out for a paltry 42 runs in their first innings of the Durban Test—a performance that will haunt them like a bad dream. Sri Lanka’s lowest-ever Test total came in just 13.5 overs, leaving the tourists in dire straits in their pursuit of a spot in the World Test Championship final.
Having entered the series perched at third on the table, Sri Lanka’s hopes now hang by a thread. The crushing 233-run defeat has shoved them down to fifth, and they face a Herculean task in Port Elizabeth to keep their Lord’s dream alive.
“We couldn’t believe it when we were shot out for 42,” Chandimal admitted, speaking to reporters after the humbling defeat. “Over the last few years, we’ve been consistent with the bat in Test cricket, so this was a bolt from the blue. But cricket is a funny game, and these things can happen. What’s important now is to learn from these mistakes and post a big first-innings total in Port Elizabeth.”
Despite the dark cloud of defeat, Chandimal himself was a silver lining. Pushed to the pivotal No. 3 spot, he showcased grit and resilience in the second innings, scoring a defiant 83 while occupying the crease for over five hours.
“We’re a good team, and we’ll bounce back,” Chandimal said with quiet determination. “Chasing nearly 300 in the fourth innings is never easy, but the fight we showed is something to build on.”
While the batters floundered, Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers gave the Proteas a run for their money. Lahiru Kumara, in particular, bowled with fire, troubling the South African batters with raw pace and precision.
“If you can put 300 runs on the board in South Africa in the first innings, you’re in the game,” Chandimal explained. “Our fast-bowling unit is second to none, and if we give them enough runs to play with, they’ll deliver the goods. The bowlers were fantastic in Durban, restricting South Africa to under 200, but we let them down with the bat.”
The batting collapse, Chandimal noted, was a result of panic under pressure. The players found themselves caught between two stools—unsure whether to attack or defend. With South Africa a bowler short following Wiaan Mulder’s injury, seeing off the first hour would have been the better option.
“Our first four wickets fell because we were in two minds,” Chandimal explained. “Some of us were overcautious, while others were dismissed trying to counter-attack. It was chaos. Getting bowled out in less than 14 overs was a bitter pill to swallow, but the past is the past. We need to dust ourselves off and come back stronger.”
Sri Lanka’s batters had faced similar struggles earlier this year in England but eventually found their rhythm, culminating in a historic Test win—their first in England in a decade.
“This situation isn’t new to us,” Chandimal reminded. “We had a shaky start in England but turned it around. It’s worth noting that the Durban Test was our first outing on a center wicket on this tour since we didn’t have a warm-up game. We’re mentally tough, and despite this collapse, we’ll rise from the ashes.”
For Chandimal, Durban holds a special place in his heart. It was here, as a 22-year-old, that he made his Test debut, scoring fifties in both innings and playing a pivotal role in Sri Lanka’s first Test victory on South African soil.
“That was a special moment, and it feels good to be back here,” Chandimal reflected. “This time, I would’ve traded my runs for us batting out the day. It’s frustrating. Probably this is my last tour to South Africa, and I’m determined to make it count. We’ve got one more game, and I want to leave my mark.”
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