Kumar Sangakkara heaps praises on Dickwella, Pradeep and Mathews

Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara in his recent column for the ICC heaped praises for his compatriots Niroshan Dickwella, Nuwan Pradeep and captain Angelo Matthews for their respective efforts in the match against Pakistan which was viewed as a virtual quarter-final of the tournament. He also appreciated the efforts of Hasan Ali who bowled a brilliant spell along with Junaid Khan and Mohammad Amir.

Nuwan Pradeep brought Sri Lanka right back into the game, just when it was drifting away from them with his three crucial wickets. He took the wicket of the dangerous looking Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam in quick successions. Later on, he picked the wicket of Imad Wasim, to make matters worse for the men in green.

Dickwella held an end up when the wickets kept tumbling for Sri Lanka. Niroshan has had a reputation of being explosive at the top but instead played conservative innings looking at the situation. He scored a solid knock of 73 runs in 86 balls, scoring four boundaries.Dickwella also stitched an important partnership with his captain Angelo Matthews.

“Bowling with heart and aggression, he dragged Sri Lanka back into a game it looked set to lose with Pakistan 76/0, while chasing a modest 236 all out. It collapsed to 162 for seven and it looked like Sri Lanka would once again rise to the occasion in a major ICC event” commented Kumar Sangakkara on the efforts of Nuwan Pradeep.

“Dickwella was particularly impressive. He is a very organised and skilful player who has a very bright future for Sri Lanka if he continues to develop. The fact that his 73 came from 86 balls with just four boundaries just shows how intelligently he played.” remarked Sanga on Niroshan Dickwella

Matthews mainstay of Sri Lankan batting says Sanga

“Pakistan created panic with a mid-innings collapse, inspired by the aggressive Hasan Ali. His confidence seemed to be sky-high after his brilliant three for 24 against South Africa and he found a great rhythm. Mathews showed how critical he is to this Sri Lanka batting line-up, rebuilding the innings with Dickwella with some authority. Sri Lanka look a completely different team when they have him in the middle-order,” concluded the man who recently scored a hundred hundreds in Professional cricket.

He also revealed that he didn’t expect Bangladesh and Pakistan to reach semis, “I certainly did not expect Bangladesh and Pakistan to qualify, but credit to them for doing so. They deserve their places.” Sangakkara concluded.