By Revatha S. Silva
[caption id="attachment_166889" align="alignleft" width="456"]
Akila Dananjaya takes his hat-trick in Coolidge, West Indies on 3 March. Yet West Indies Skipper Kieron Pollard spoiled his party pretty soon by whacking the mystery spinner for six sixes in a single over in the same match. (Files)[/caption]
Sri Lanka’s final World Cup squad
Here is the final 15-member Sri Lanka squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup as was submitted to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on the 10 October (yesterday) deadline:
Squad (15)
Dasun Shanaka (Captain), Kusal Perera, Pathum Nissanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Charith Asalanka, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya De Silva, Chamika Karunaratne, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Binura Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Maheesh Theekshana, and Akila Dananjaya
Reserves (3):
Kamindu Mendis, Shiran Fernando, and Pulina Tharanga
Travelling reserves (6):
Nuwan Pradeep, Praveen Jayawickrama, Minod Bhanuka, Ashen Bandara, Lakshan Sandakan, and Ramesh Mendis
The national cricket selectors, headed by Pramodya Wickramasinghe, have raised many eyebrows when they announced Sri Lanka’s final 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup that starts on Sunday (17).
Their final 15-player squad announced yesterday (10) on the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) deadline included ‘mystery spinner’ Akila Dananjaya, who scarcely displayed any ‘mystery’ particularly since the day he was whacked for six sixes in an over by West Indies batsman Kieron Pollard in March, just after taking a hat-trick in the same match.
Picked over two other spinners
Dananjaya has somewhat surprisingly been chosen over two left-arm spinners in the travelling squad; Praveen Jayawickrama and Kamindu Mendis (both left and right arm).
With Dananjaya, Sri Lanka’s final squad includes three specialist spinners -- Dananjaya, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Maheesh Theekshana - who are all right-armers.
The selection panel, which also includes Romesh Kaluwitharana and Hemantha Wickramaratne, seems to have gone for experience rather than performance. If form and performance were the criteria, Dananjaya’s recent record does not provide a satisfactory picture (see boxed info).
Four strike bowlers
The UAE pitches for the World Cup, as was evident during the second stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches since last month, necessitate spinners to do the containing of the flow of runs by the batters.
With that in mind, will the ploy of including four main strike bowlers in the squad - Dushmantha Chameera, Chamika Karunaratne, Lahiru Kumara, and Binura Fernando - be a productive one?
‘The DDS fiasco’
Now comes the ‘DDS fiasco’. The player was reportedly warned of not giving his fullest support to the team’s cause during the previous South Africa series in Colombo.
Yet Dhananjaya de Silva aka DDS has been included in the final squad even without testing him in the two practice games against Oman last week. Tricky?
How will they fare?
It will be interesting, and somewhat shaky too, from the point of view of the Sri Lankan spectator, to see how Sri Lanka are going to fare tomorrow (12) against Bangladesh and on Thursday (14) against Papua New Guinea (PNG) before taking up Namibia, Ireland, and Netherlands once the tournament proper gets underway on Sunday (17).
The way Sri Lanka beat Oman last week was far from convincing - this is not an understatement.
Do the selectors still have their strings attached? Are some influences on them unavoidable? Have they picked the best available combination to the World Cup? Will selection blunder cost Sri Lanka dearly?
Only hours and days will provide us the answer.