Dilrook Kannangara

Pakistani cricket team is winning match after match after a few bumps along the way. Their nation is in disarray, their cricket administration in total chaos, their cricketers blamed and even charged of match fixing, assault and they are deprived of lucrative IPL contracts denying them not just money but also experience in what was tipped to be the new form of the game inspired by the fast paced Twenty20s. However, contrary to popular belief, Twenty20 inspired cricket was not seen in any match (apart from matches against minnows) of this World Cup. Bowling still ranks par with batting; run rates above six (6) are difficult to come by. Pakistan has cleverly converted this to their advantage. Sri Lanka must learn from Pakistan if they are to win the World Cup this time. Learning from Pakistan does not mean copying them. It means copying what they do well; doing better in what they donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t do well and avoiding their mistakes.

How They Overcame Inconsistent Batting

Team Pakistan is afflicted with inconsistent batting. They have identified it and found a clever remedy. Their inconsistent batting is balanced by pretty good bowling and fielding combined. Pakistan crawled to victory against Australia and West Indies despite the opposition scoring less than 200 runs. Pakistani run chase in both occasions was very slow and in the case of Australia, erratic. However, the target was so easily gettable that even inconsistent batting was good enough to get it. In their match against Sri Lanka, Pakistan total was on the low range in this age of limited overs cricket. But they defended it well.

When fielding, Pakistan is a whole new team. Tight bowling heavily supported by brilliant fielding keeps pressure from the start forcing the opponents to either get bogged down with a dismal run rate or get out! Field placing is such that boundaries are denied to the opponent. Enthusiastic cover fielders cut off the regular single. There is a field for each batsman. It seems Pakistan team has studied each batsman in detail to block his run scoring regions. Also comes in to the equation is bowling restrictions in power-plays. This clever field placing strategy, enthusiastic fielding and close support for the bowler must be copied by Team Sri Lanka.

Good bowling spells must be reinforced with ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”threatsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to run-out batsmen and appeals. Unless good bowling spells are reinforced this way, batsmen soon find a way out. This is what happens when Team Sri Lanka bowls; good bowling spells are short-lived due to lack of reinforcement.

Bringing Spinners Early

Sri Lanka can do better than Pakistan with spinners. Introducing spinners early is another lesson Sri Lankans should learn from Pakistan. Most opening batsmen find it difficult to face spinners as they traditionally focus on facing what have come to be known as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”opening bowlersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and they are mostly fast bowlers. It exposes a weakness in most teams. Team England is not good facing spin in limited-overs games particularly their openers. An early spin attack will do very well against England and even South Africa. Once the power-plays and field restrictions generally favouring batting is spoilt with a low run rate, pressure builds up on batsmen resulting in wickets.

Unlike in 1999 or 2007, Team Sri Lanka doesnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t have batsmen who can spin the ball (e.g. Aravinda, Sanath) or spinners who can bat well (e.g. Upul Chandana, Ruwan Kalpage). Dilshan and Thilan are not effective spinners anymore. This means an additional spinner (all Sri Lankan spinners today are hopeless batsmen) would take away a batsman or a bowler. In other words, spinners must be used as effectively as possible. Gone are the days when spinners were introduced in the middle of the inning. Now they play a major role at the start of the innings.

Fielding should support spin bowlers particularly staying within fielding restrictions. Efficient cover fielding can cut-off the regular single batsmen take when facing difficult spin bowlers. Spinners must bowl according to an agreed plan that has been used to set the field. However, this goes against ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”mysteryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ balls of Ajantha and Herath. A decision must be made each time they bowl the mystery ball whether the likely runs it would cost justifies it. Repeating experiments with variations for which the field does not respond well is not going to do any good. Experimenting while keeping runs low is still acceptable.

Not Leaving the Burden to Later Batsmen

Pakistan openers didnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t leave the burden to later batsmen. This includes both keeping wickets and maintaining a run rate adequate to win. One may argue that this was because the entire Pakistan batting was slow and therefore the openers were no better. However, going through their innings shows the openers were as good as the entire team in the batting department. This is not what Team Sri Lanka can boast about. Both the openers and the middle order collapse against good teams. When the openers build a good partnership, it is often at the expense of the run rate. A slow but steady start by the openers is okay if they come up to speed later. The openers building a steady inning but getting out without improving the run rate is not acceptable. Incoming batsmen are not the ones to improve the run rate based on the slow steady foundation laid by the openers. Openers must do it gradually after steadying the inning.

Need to Introduce New Player/s into the Squad

WU TharangaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s contribution is in batting only as he is not a bowler and not a brilliant fielder. If his batting performance is not up to the mark he must be replaced. If he cannot bat well as an opener and lower in the order, he should not have a place in the team. Although Thilan is tipped to play an anchor role, he has not played it and Silva and Matthews have played that role. Having three or two anchors is not needed. Losing well is not an option now in the quarter, semi and final. Losing bad is as bad or good as losing well. So there is no need for more than one anchor any more. Silva or Thilan must be dropped. They too contribute as batsmen only, not as bowlers or brilliant fielders. Replacing them with Kapugedara is not an option because recent innings of Kapugedara show he is no different to Silva or Thilan. His top scores came in matches that were lost. It is important to bring a new batsman to the squad; at least one. Injuries allow bringing new players into the squad.

However, chief selector Aravinda de Silva sees it as a weakness in his selection. It is not a weakness but a refinement. This is an impediment to have a better team necessary for the quarter, semi and the final. He recently blamed the Middle Order for poor performance. However, given their form, performance, slow strike rate and dismal inconsistency, which were well known before selection,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ they cannot be expected to do better than this. This is all what the Thilan, Silva and Kapugedara trio are capable of. They had their chances (excluding Kapugedara) and they are all failures or good scorers in losing matches (including Kapugedara). They must be replaced; at least some or one of them. England and Australia among others, have replaced their players citing injuries. It is obvious some of these are not serious injuries needing urgent medical attention! Replace underperforming players with the likes of Jeevan Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, MaharoofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ or Kandamby. It does not affect the team because the team had these players recently.

All three Asian major teams have won the World Cup once each. Race is on to become the first and only Asian team to win it twice. And it is played in the subcontinent. Moreover, Sri Lanka has been hanging in there in the past two World Cups (2003 and 2007) playing in semi-finals and the final respectively. In 1996 Sri Lankans won it in style. So now is the perfect time to win it again. This chance must not be missed.