Sri Lanka face tough hurdle in qualifying round

Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka will have much on his plate when he marches his team out for the qualifying games of the T20 World Cup in Australia.

The first of three qualifying round matches will be against the unpredictable Namibia on October 16 followed by games against the UAE on the 18th and the Netherlands on October 20.

Shanaka will be captaining the team at his second T20 World Cup after leading the team on the first occasion in Oman and the UAE last year.

This time he will have the services of batters Dhanushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis who were unavailable due to a disciplinary ban.

Sri Lanka suffered two series defeats against Australia, 4-1 down under and 2-1 on home soil while suffering a 3-0 whitewash in India in the run up to the T20 World Cup.

But having turned tables by winning the Asia Cup after initially going down tamely to Afghanistan, Sri Lanka enter the event giving their followers much hope especially in the three qualifying round games.

For the record Sri Lanka entered the final of the T20 World Cup on three occasions in 2009, 2012 and 2014 the year in which the team beat India to win the prize.

Sri Lanka is expected to depend mostly on their express fast bowlers Lahiru Kumara and Dushmantha Chameera on the fast Australian pitches to blunt the opposition although spin bowler Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva topped the wickets in the last T20 World Cup in the UAE in 2021 with 16 scalps.