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Upul Tharanga, who has recently brought out a more explosive side to his batting, could be one of four men to partner Tillakaratne Dilshan at the top of the order © Associated Press
After years of failing to find a partner for Tillakaratne Dilshan at the top of the order, Sri Lanka suddenly find themselves having a logjam at the top of the order. Niroshan Dickwella is unavailable for this series, and yet, the hosts have in their squad four men who can open the batting, each of whom has trod a different path.
Upul Tharanga – the oldest of the four – has usually been thought of for the longer formats, but has recently unveiled a more explosive avatar to his batting. Kusal Perera, 26, is the only batsman who has tasted even some consistent success as a T20 opener. He was part of the victorious World T20 campaign in Bangladesh, though his form has been shakier of late.
Dilshan Munaweera had an abortive first stint in the team, and has since found his way back into Sri Lankan colours via the global T20 circuit. And Danushka Gunathilaka – the newest of the opening options – fields beautifully, and bowls as well, but for now is trading more on potential than tangible results.
Under normal circumstances, there would be little pressure for Sri Lanka to lock down their best opening combination immediately – particularly as there are no World T20 tournaments on the horizon. But with both the ODI and Test series having been drawn 1-1, there is a little more at stake in this series than usual. Captain Tharanga said the opening question deserved a little mulling over.
“We really haven’t decided on the openers, and we have to take the opposition’s plans into account,” Tharanga said. “They have the offspinner Mehadi Hasan, and he often opens the bowling – as we saw in the ODIs. So that can affect the combination, and we might also want a right-hand/left-hand combination.”
This suggests Munaweera is likely to open the innings, as he is the only right-hander among the quartet, and as such, best-equipped to neutralise Mehedi. But the opening combination is not the only area where Sri Lanka have options, Tharanga said. Thanks to recent successes – albeit against depleted opposition – Sri Lanka may just have a little extra confidence in their T20 game.
“In the last two series, we beat South Africa in South Africa and Australia in Australia, which is never easy to do,” Tharanga said. “They were top teams at the moment in the T20 format. We are in good shape in the T20s. We have a lot more experience – with players like Lasith Malinga coming back, and Nuwan Kulasekara and Thisara Perera there as well. We have explosive batsmen up the top of the order, but some firepower lower down as well, with players like Seekkuge Prasanna and Chamara Kapugedara.”
Though Tharanga revealed on Saturday that he had asked for an offspinner (Dilruwan Perera) to be added to Sri Lanka’s ODI squad after the selectors had initially failed to name one, he did express support for the selectors’ policy of stacking T20 sides with allrounders.
“In T20s, a lot changes with the situation,” he said. “Sometimes, if you have players that can play a few big shots and contribute a couple of overs at the right time – that can be an advantage. As specialist bowlers, we’ve got Malinga and Kulasekara. We’ve got Lakshan Sandakan as a spinner, and Seekkuge as well – in Australia he bowled all four overs. We’re just looking for one or two overs from the allrounders.”
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando
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ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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