SWOT Analysis of Sri Lanka Squad selected for ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 is set to get underway on February 10th and will continue until February 26th 2023. It will be hosted by South Africa and will have 23 matches in total, with the finals at the Newlands Cricket in Cape Town, South Africa.

The World Cup will feature 10 teams spread across two groups.

How is Sri Lanka placed for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup?

Sri Lanka is placed in Group A with Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and hosts South Africa.

What are Sri Lanka’s fixtures?

What is Sri Lankan Squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023?

Chamari Athapaththu (c), Oshadi Ranasinghe, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Anushka Sanjeewani, Kaushini Nuthyangana, Malsha Shehani, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Kumari, Achini Kulasuriya, Vishmi Gunaratne, Tharika Sewwandi, Ama Kanchana, Sathya Sandeepani

SWOT Analysis of the Sri Lankan squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023?

Strengths of the Sri Lankan squad selected for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023:

• Captaincy of Chamari Athapaththu: The presence of Chamari Athapaththu is enough to boost the confidence of Sri Lanka. She is one of the key pawns, as her captaincy and ability to amass runs make her critical to Sri Lanka’s prospects. As the leading run-scorer in T20Is, the team will hope for strong starts.

• Presence of the youngster Vishmi Gunaratne: Having impressed everyone with her supreme strokeplay and exquisite skills, she is certainly one to watch for going ahead. With a good U19 World Cup and rhythm in her stride, she is a welcome bonus to the team, as she has already adapted brilliantly to the conditions.

• The duo of Inoka Ranaweera and Oshadi Ranasinghe: They have the duo of Inoka Ranaweera and Oshadi Ranasinghe, who have been instrumental for Sri Lanka in their outings so far and were phenomenal in the Commonwealth Games and Asia Games. They will be hoping to carry forward the form onto this T20 World Cup.

Weaknesses of the Sri Lankan squad selected for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023:

• Shaky batting: The batting for Sri Lanka is overtly dependent on the likes of Athapaththu and Gunaratne to get going and score runs. Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari and Harshitha Samarawickrama will have to pull their socks up and contribute to the team’s cause and score at a healthy strike rate to keep the scoreboard ticking.

• Lack of match practice: A worrying trend for Sri Lanka going into this World Cup and something that is likely to backfire is the lack of match practice, as they haven’t played any T20I cricket since the Asia Cup in 2022. The rustiness and unpreparedness before an event of this magnitude could come to bite them.

• Absence of Hasini Perera: A cog in the Sri Lankan set-up is Hasini Perera, who will be missing the World Cup owing to an untimely injury.

Opportunities for the Sri Lankan squad selected for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023:

• To cause upsets in the group stage matches: Perhaps, one of the main aims for Sri Lanka will be to put up commendable performances and keep the momentum going by upsetting the bigger nations in their group. On any given day, they present themselves as strong competitors and can be banked upon.

• Ama Kanchana can make a mark: The veteran, Ama Kanchana, has been a long-lasting servant of the Sri Lankan team and has faced a lot of setbacks in her career, and a good showing in the World Cup can cement her place in the team.

Threats for the Sri Lankan squad selected for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023:

• Poor outings in ICC competitions: Sri Lanka has never been a dominant outfit in any ICC T20 World Cup events so far. With just 8 wins under their belt from 27 matches, they will be looking for a better outing.

• Presence of stronger teams: With the likes of Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and South Africa in their group, Sri Lanka will find it tough, and it will be a mountain hill against these classy units. Sri Lanka will have to play their A-game every single time they step out if they want to stand a chance to pull off a win.