In a shocking turn of events for Sri Lanka, things have not gone their way in this International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s T20 World Cup. The Islanders have lost three of three matches and with only one match left to be played in the league stage, captain Chamari Athapaththu and her team will be forced to play only for pride.
After suffering a crushing 82-run defeat at the hands of India on Wednesday in Dubai, Sri Lanka head coach Rumesh Ratnayake, all-rounder Kavisha Dilhari*, and India’s opening batter Shafali Verma addressed the media.
Ratnayake did not mince words as he accepted that his side was not up to the task in this World Cup. He said, “We have been playing poor cricket throughout this tournament. That is not acceptable. We have been talking about it and we are trying to come out of it. But (our) skill (level) has failed us. We have been talking about playing fearless cricket but that has not happened. We have been unable to win key moments and that has what costed us.”
Reflecting on Sri Lanka’s dismal performance, Ratnayake expressed, “We came here to win the World Cup. We didn’t come here (just) to participate. We didn’t come here to win one or two matches. But now having lost three, we need to salvage ourselves to win the last match.”
Sri Lanka play their last league match against New Zealand on Saturday in Sharjah.
The Sri Lanka team over the years has been overly dependent on their captain Athapaththu and in this World Cup, she, too, failed to impress. “We have had chats with Chamari. We need to go back to the drawing board, rethink our strategies, and need to know where we are. There are so much expectations from her. I feel she needs to take it moment by moment, ball by ball,” said Ratnayake.
Unlike her Sri Lankan counterpart, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur was in full swing as she smashed a delightful half-century. India posted a daunting total of 3/172 in 20 overs, which is also the highest score in this tournament so far. Before Kaur’s unbeaten 52 from 27, it was India’s opening pair in Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana that set the tone. The duo stitched a crucial 98-run partnership in 12.4 overs to lay a solid foundation.
Shafali, who scored 43 runs from 40 balls, talking about her partnership with Mandhana, said, “We bat well together. The plan is to give more strike to the one who is striking the ball better. We don’t plan anything before (the match). We just back our strengths. Our aim is to give a good start to our team.”
She added, “(Learning from the first two matches), the plan was to run fast for the first run. Running between the wickets gets important here (because) the boundaries are big. Hitting sixes is not that easy.”
Besides running between the wickets, the Indian team put up an improved fielding performance in their third match as they held onto their catches and exhibited good ground fielding. Shafali stated, “We are working hard on our fielding. We take about 30-40 catches in every fielding session.”
India plays their final league match against Australia on Sunday in Sharjah.
*Dilhari addressed the media in Sinhalese.
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