World T20 2016: SWOT Analysis of the Sri Lankan team

The defending Champions, Sri Lanka, have reached the finals of World T20 on 3 occasions, the most by any team. However, their title defence looks an uphill battle as the retirements of their middle-order stalwarts, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene has hurt them immensely. Since the retirement of the duo, Sri Lanka have lost 10 of the 13 T20Is they played. In the recently concluded Asia Cup T20, Sri Lanka lost 3 out of the 4 games they played and narrowly avoided defeat to UAE by 14 runs had it not been to the heroics of Lasith Malinga. With the new reinforcements in the batting department, let us see how far would Sri Lanka go in this edition of the World T20

Strength:

Of the two aspects of the game, batting and bowling, it does look like Sri Lanka’s strength lies in their bowling. Nuwan Kulasekera, Dushmantha Chameera and if fit, Lasith Malinga will be key to Sri Lanka’s chances in the World T20. Malinga in the game vs UAE and Kulasekera in the game vs India showed that they still can deliver the goods. Dushmantha with his pace has the ability to surprise the batsmen and the ever so wily Rangana Herath will look to exploit any assistance he gets on the turning Indian wickets. Mathews, who will be the captain of the side too, isn’t a bad 5th bowling option to have. So it can be said that if Sri Lanka post a decent enough total, their bowlers can help them win crucial games. The Lanka have also added Suranga Lakmal to the squad, who’d be vital if Malinga doesn’t recover fully.

Weakness:

Sri Lanka is in its worst batting form for a long long time. With Dinesh Chandimal the only batsman who has looked in decent touch, the other batsmen, including the veteran Tillakratne Dilshan have been found wanting. They seemed to lack any sense of planning in the Asia Cup, which led to the debacle. Angelo Mathews too wasn’t at his best and will be hoping to get back to form right before the tournament.

Dasun Shanaka, Chamara Kapugedara, Milinda Siriwardena and Thisara Perera all can tonk the ball, but can they do it consistently without getting out early is a question to which the Sri Lankan management and the fans would want an answer to and will hope to put behind the horrid show with the bat in the last couple of months and start afresh in the World T20.

They have added the experienced Lahiru Thirimanne to the squad. Thirimanne will be a welcome change to a very inexperienced batting lineup and Sri Lanka will be hoping that this is the change that brings out the change in their fortunes.

Opportunities:

While Sri Lanka might have their weakness with the bat, they have the advantage of being the only team from Asia in their Group unless Afghanistan or Hong Kong make it to the Super 10. They can exploit the spinning conditions to their advantage against South Africa, England and West Indies with the help of Rangana Herath. While the IPL has made easier for other teams to adat to the slowness of the wickets in India, not many England players have played here in a long time. Beating of those teams would surely give Sri Lanka the momentum and the self-belief that they have been looking for.

Threats:

Sri Lanka do have the threat of being blown by the other full member side in the group and in tournaments as short as this the time for recovery is very little. Apart from the external threats, the questions on the fitness of Malinga and Mathews loom large over the Sri Lankan team. Ouster of either of the two will be a huge blow to their chances in the tournament.

Even though they are the defending champions, Sri Lanka enter the tournament as underdogs this time around. It will be very important for them to find the X-factor that will take them to the next stage in the tournament else, it might be early curtains for them like the way it happened in 1999 during their title defence of the 50 over World Cup.

Squad: Angelo Mathews (C), Dushmantha Chameera, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Rangana Herath, Shehan Jayasuriya, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera, Sachithra Senanayake, Dasun Shanaka, Milinda Siriwardana, Suranga Lakmal.

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