Consistency and continuity key to SL’s resurgence - Bhanuka

Sri Lanka's captain Dasun Shanaka celebrates victory

By Shanuka Aravinda reporting from Dubai

Consistency and continuity in selections over the last two years has contributed to Sri Lanka’s T20I team building trust and unity, and helped them enroute to three wins in a row during the ongoing Asia Cup, batsman Bhanuka Rajapaksa said.

Following Sri Lanka’s epic six wicket win over India, that almost confirmed their place in the final, Rajapaksa said: “When you make many changes in a side it's very difficult to build trust in a team. May be a couple of players came in and out of the team, but we have been successful as the same team played for about two years.

”The captain, selectors and coaches have been backing their players. That means they can play without pressure. That’s a positive sign and I think that really helped Sri Lanka’s cricket rebuild the plan we had around two decades ago. We want to rebuild that plan now.”
Dasun  Shanaka led Sri Lanka to victory building an unbroken 64-run partnership in 34 balls with Rajapaksa for the fifth wicket even after losing four wickets in 18 balls for just 13 runs. Shanaka scored one six and four fours in 18 balls and Rajapaksa scored two sixes.

Shanaka has now captain Sri Lanka to the most number of T20I wins and Rajapaksa said that Shanaka’s presence was important for the victory, with more responsibilities as one of the most experienced players of the team.

“A chase of 170-180 is not easy with a team like India. They play 50-60 T20 matches a year including the IPL and we only play 20-25 matches. That is why Dasun and I are in the middle-order. We have played the most number of matches,” Rajapaksa said.

“We have played many matches against the Indians and we always tried to defend the wicket and win. We saw that boundaries of one side were shorter and our goal was to strike the ball to that side to minimise risks.”
“Shanaka scored a quick 30 and made it easy for me to attack. I only had to let him bat while getting runs. If not I would have to score quickly taking all the responsibility. We won because our decisions turned out to be right,” he added.