World Cup, Sri Lanka preview: Unsettled and struggling, things look bleak for Karunaratne and Co

What is happening in Sri Lankan cricket is an enigma for everyone who has followed the island nation’s progress since their title triumph in 1996 under Arjuna Ranatunga.

Having reached two world cup finals in the last three editions, one felt Sri Lanka was marching towards becoming a cricketing superpower. Instead, as the top-10 teams get ready to vie for the 2019 World Cup that, no one is really sure which Sri Lanka would turn up for the quadrennial event.

In fact, you could even think that the players were not really sure who will finally don the Sri Lankan colours in United Kingdom after the selection committee not just recalled Dimuth Karunaratne to the ODI squad after a gap of four years but also made him the skipper.

They also made wholesome changes to the provisional squad dropping former skipper Dinesh Chandimal and Niroshan Dickwella. Among the replacements that were made Milinda Siriwardana and Jeffrey Vandersay last played one-day internationals in October 2017, while Jeevan Mendis’ previous appearance in the format came in the 2015 World Cup match against Afghanistan.

It is pretty clear that chief selector Ashantha De Mel, who is also the team manager for the World Cup, and coach Chandika Hathurusingha haven’t been on the same page over the squad, and it remains to be seen how well Karunaratne can motivate the players to raise the bar in United Kingdom and try to first seal a berth in the semi-final.

History at the World Cup

Sri Lanka managed to register a victory at the World Cup even before India – incidentally, against India – despite being an associate nation in the first two editions. It is one of the many instances that highlight the ability of the island nation players to punch above their weight.

However, they never managed to go beyond the group stage in the first five editions before Arjuna Ranatunga’s band of fiery young men took the World Cup by storm in the sub-continent with an aggressive approach to clinch their first and only trophy in Lahore by beating the mighty Australians.

Sri Lanka pioneered the idea of playing two pinch hitters as openers – Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitarna – to make the most of powerplay overs and successfully implemented the game plan.

Since then, the Lankans have been consistent performers at the World Cup stage reaching the semi-finals in 2003 and finals in 2007 and 2011 before losing to eventual champions on all three occasions.

In the 2015 edition, Sri Lanka managed to reach the quarter-finals by finishing third in the group comprising New Zealand, Australia, England, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Scotland but were completely outplayed by South Africa in the first knock-out encounter.

Sri Lanka’s record in the four previous World Cups played in England are not very promising. They have managed a total of four wins from 17 games out of which two came before they earned the Test status. They managed just two wins in 1999 as defending champions and those came against Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Since the World Cup in 2015

Since that loss against South Africa in Sydney, Sri Lanka cricket’s performance graph has gone downhill with many recent and former players being sanctioned by ICC’s anti-corruption unit.

The retirement of Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawardene left the team without a leader who could hold things together and constant injuries to Angelo Mathews did not help their cause.

In the last few years, the captain, coach and even the selection committee has changed multiple times and that has not helped the cause of the team.

In 2017, they lost a ODI series against New Zealand for the first time and were whitewashed by India, Pakistan and South Africa. Last year, they were knocked out of the Asia Cup in the first round and were in danger of losing out on an automatic qualifying berth for the 2019 World Cup and are currently ranked 9th. There is fear that Sri Lankan cricket is going West Indies way and if Jayawardene’s recent comments are anything to go by, things are not looking rosy for the immediate future.

Since the 2015 World Cup, Sri Lanka has won just 24 of the 85 ODIs they have played and they will have find a way of winning more than 50% of their matches in the group stage to even stand a chance at challenging for the top-four spot.

Keys to qualifying for the semi-finals

The first and foremost requirement for the team would be bury all the differences and play like a unit.

Unlike in the past, the squad doesn’t boast of a battery of batsmen who can dominate the opposition’s bowling attack from the word go and the team would have to bank on Kusal Mendis to provide the momentum and Mathews, who has recovered from the hamstring injury, to provide solidity to the middle order.

The former skipper is unlikely to bowl in the tournament but his inputs could be handy for skipper Karunaratne.

With a tough end to the all-play-all group stage, Sri Lanka desperately need a good start.

X-Factor at CWC 2019

In a team bereft of many big hitters, Sri Lanka would be hoping that Mendis can provide them the momentum to score big runs as it looks pretty clear that the wickets in England for the World Cup would be batting friendly.

The 24-year-old showed enough promise during the five-match series against South Africa in March, in which Sri Lanka were whitewashed, as he took on the likes of Dale Steyn and Kasigo Rabada.

The other two players who would be key to Sri Lanka’s challenge would be Isuru Udana, who has a strike rate of 121 and can be extremely dangerous in the death overs, and the experienced Lasith Malinga. The 35-year-old will be playing in his fourth World Cup and though he has slowed down a bit, he showed that he still retains the ability to deliver the goods under pressure in the IPL final.

Squad

Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Avishka Fernando, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Jeffery Vandersay, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Jeevan Mendis, Milinda Siriwardana