{"id":87237,"date":"2019-04-15T13:59:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T20:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=87237"},"modified":"2019-04-15T13:59:54","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T20:59:54","slug":"best-twenty-man-squad-for-wc2019-including-wanidu-hasaranga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/04\/15\/best-twenty-man-squad-for-wc2019-including-wanidu-hasaranga\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Twenty Man Squad for WC2019 Including Wanidu Hasaranga"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Team\nSri Lanka should play the following squad for the WC2019 to achieve best\noutcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Sandun Weerakkody,\nKusal Perera, Upul Tharanga, Dasun Shanaka, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Mendis,\nThisara Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Asela Gunaratne, Dhananjaya de Silva,\nAshan Priyanjan, Shehan Madushanka, Akila Dananjaya, Lasith Malinga, Suranga\nLakmal, Isuru Udana, Shaminda Eranga and Wanindu Hasaranga.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nis based on batting efficacy (strike rate times average) and bowling effectiveness\n(economy rate times wicket taking average).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wanindu\nHasaranga is an exception. Although his performance does not warrant a place\nfor him in the squad, his exceptional ability to give the ball a good spin is\nconsidered given dead pitches for spinners where World Cup matches are played.\nOther interesting selections include Shehan Madushanka who is an interesting\nfast bowler. Isuru Udana has not played enough matches. However, he has\ndisplayed a fighting spirit not found in many Sri Lankan players. He is also a\nmoderate all rounder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandun\nWeerakkody is a wicket keeper batsman who can be accommodated at a different\nfielding position given his good and fast batting. His batting is better than\nDinesh Chandimal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lahiru\nand Jeffrey cannot make it to the team given their poor performance overall.\nHowever, if some of the players listed above are not going to be available,\nthey can make it to the squad. Dilruwan Perera who is a Test player may be\nincluded in the squad in place of Amila Aponsu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nformat this year requires the team to make it to the top four to get ahead.\nThere is no quarter final. That is a daunting task for Team Sri Lanka which\ncurrently ranks at the eighth position (may slip to the ninth position). There\nis no point playing slow batters as the Team is going to lose matches anyway if\nfast scoring batters fail. Net Run Rate cannot bring us within the top four.\nOnly match winnings can bring us to the top four. Therefore, no harm in losing\nsome matches badly as long as we win other matches. However, over the years,\nCricket Sri Lanka failed to unearth many fast scoring batsmen. Focus was on the\nbatting average and most finds are unsuitable for the ODI format. Unfortunately\nwe have to play them as better talent is unavailable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthews\nshould not be made captain as he has not been successful. Malinga is the only\ncurrent World Cup (T20I) winning captain but some senior players are not very\nreceptive to his leadership. A tough decision must be taken on the choice of\ncaptain. However, bringing Dimuth into the ODI squad for his great captaincy\nskills is unwise as he has no place in the ODI squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Batting\norder must change. The crucial number three position must not go to Kusal\nMendis who is a slow batter. Matthews and Thisara and Isuru must play higher up\nin the order where they can blossom without the added pressure of running out\nof balls. This is what worked for WC1996. Tharanga should also play down the\nbatting order. Often times these slow batters cause the required rate to go up\nand the difficult task falls on latter batsmen who are also burdened with the\nball. Contribution of Kusal Mendis and Tharanga is only in the batting\ndepartment. As specialized batsmen they must be able to handle pressure down\nthe order. Otherwise they are best kept out of the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\ntotal of 300 runs is the norm today and mathematically it is a certainty that\nif a team loses if it makes up of batsmen with far less than 100% strike\nrate.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given\nthe long and grueling format, it is a good idea to financially assist wives and\ngirl friends of players to get there and be with them. This can be done by\nlimiting administration officials and their family members. They don\u2019t play\nmatches and they need not be in England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\na realist with an umbrella at hand, WC2019 will be an affair to forget for Team\nSri Lanka fans. However, making the most of it should be the focus this time.\nTake each match as a winnable game and let the numbers do the trick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara Team Sri Lanka should play the following squad for the WC2019 to achieve best outcomes. Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Sandun Weerakkody, Kusal Perera, Upul Tharanga, Dasun Shanaka, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Mendis, Thisara Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Asela Gunaratne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Ashan Priyanjan, Shehan Madushanka, Akila Dananjaya, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal, Isuru Udana, Shaminda […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dilrook-kannangara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}