Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes Sri Lanka’s batting has enough firepower to damage opponents in the T20 World Cup in 2021. While the Lankans have to qualify for the Super 12s through Round 1, Chopra believes the team’s batting possesses the X-factor that can surprise even the best teams.
However, Sri Lanka will meet South Africa in match number 25 of the T20 World Cup 2021 in Sharjah on Saturday, after losing by seven wickets to Australia in their previous encounter. Thus, Both teams have won one and lost one of their two Super 12 matches so far, and they will need to win in Sharjah to remain in contention for the semi-finals.
“Count Sri Lanka out at your own peril. They may have gone down to Australia but not without giving them a proper scare. Sri Lanka have form as well and a different kind of X-factor in their batting. They start with Nissanka and Kusal Perera, then comes Asalanka and Rajapaksa. They just keep coming. Even Hasaranga has been promoted in the batting order and they have got a lot of quality there, the kind that can hurt opponents.” Chopra said
In the middle overs, Chopra confessed that Avishka Fernando’s form is a concern. Aakash Chopra
“Avishka Fernando is not scoring runs in the middle, which is a concern. He is unable to transform potential into performance.” He added
Although Sri Lanka has a strong bowling attack, Chopra believes that most of their bowlers failed to deliver against Australia.
Wanindu Hasaranga
Except for Wanindu Hasaranga, he claimed that the rest of the Lankan bowlers failed to impress.
“In the bowling, they have two spinners in Theekshana and Hasaranga, who can get a lot of assistance from the Sharjah surface. Sri Lanka’s bowling was below par in the last game and the execution was not great. They started with Chamika Karunaratne and the field setting wasn’t all that great. Don’t know why Dushmantha Chameera was trying to bowl slower ones when he is good with seam-up deliveries. Lahiru Kumara was also a little wayward. Hasaranga bowled well and Theekshana is a good bowler but he was lacklustre in the last game.” The former cricketer elaborated
Hasaranga’s 2 for 22 versus Australia was remarkable. Kumara and Chameera, on the other hand, gave up 48 and 33 runs in their three overs, respectively, without taking a wicket.
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