Batting will hold key to Sri Lanka’s success – Kusal Perera

Kusal Janith Perera

Sri Lanka Skipper Kusal Janith Perera believes that a well settled batting line-up will be the key for their success in the three-match Twenty20 International series against England, which begins in Cardiff, Wales today.

“All our top order batsmen had a good workout during the two practice matches and we are keen to have a settled batting line-up for this series,” Perera told reporters yesterday.

The dashing wicket-keeper opening batsman also said that Sri Lanka will start the game with two all-rounders, three bowlers and six specialist batsmen.

“We haven’t decided on the final playing eleven yet but our idea is to have two all-rounders, three bowlers and six batsmen to counter the English Team,” he explained.

“The top three positions in the batting order will be the same but I haven’t decided whether I will open the innings or bat at number three,” he said. “I still believe in playing fearless cricket throughout this series although we could not execute that plan to perfection in the Bangladesh series,” he noted. Perera also welcomed the decision of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to increase the number of cricket fans for the matches between England and Sri Lanka.

“I think the dream of every cricketer is to play in front of their fans and this move will certainly provide us with a great amount of motivation to perform well,” he said.

“England are the top ranked side in this format and they will be under a huge amount of pressure to win the series but we have nothing to lose as the underdogs and that will be a great advantage for us.”

“We know that England have a powerful batting unit but they might struggle a bit to field a strong bowling line-up and that is the area we want to exploit in this series,” he added. (C.D)