Sri Lanka scrambling to avoid whitewash

Niroshan Dickwella

By Amindha de Alwis

Sri Lanka’s batsmen will be desperate for a stark upswing in their batting fortunes as they come up against Bangladesh in the final game of the three-match ODI series in Dhaka, today.

The hosts have already claimed the series following back-to-back wins and a 3-nil whitewash is very much on the cards if the Bangladeshi bowling unit continues to run circles around the visiting batsmen, as has been the case so far.

In response to the two defeats Sri Lanka is likely to re-jig their batting order with Niroshan Dickwella expected to slot into the side as wicketkeeper according to Sri Lanka batting coach Grant Flower.

“There is a good chance of him (Dickwella) playing. He played very well in the warm-up match, and he has been good in the nets. I think you will see quite a few changes (to the side). It will not just be Dickwella.”
“Dickwella has made a few technical changes recently with his grip and maybe a couple of mindset changes. He is hitting the ball a lot harder than he used to, especially in white-ball cricket. So, I think the selectors and a few others have seen that and he seems a lot more confident within his own game,” Flower said.
The Dailymirror learns that Dickwella will take his place in the playing XI at the expense of Ashen Bandara who has picked up an injury.

While professing disappointment in Sri Lanka’s batting display in the past two games, Flower said that he sees the batting unit’s failure as mostly a mental issue with the players failing to replicate the same mindset they have in practice sessions, when playing in the middle.

“When they are in the middle it looks a combination of technical and mental, but I think mostly it is mental. When I see the guys playing in the nets, they look really good, they are playing with freedom, but in the middle it is different. There is pressure, they are hitting the fielders and it looks like the guys are freezing,” Flower observed. 
Sri Lanka’s bowling unit has been able to restrict Bangladesh to very much chaseable targets and the team has been sprightly and up to the mark in terms of their fielding in the series so far, but the batting unit’s performance, with the exception of all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga in the first ODI, has largely overshadowed those positives.
Flower felt that the Sri Lankan batsmen could learn a great deal from how Mushfiqur Rahim, the highest run-scorer (209 runs) in the series so far, goes about rotating the strike.

“Good bowlers at this level are going to keep landing it on the spot but you need to be proactive and move your feet, play the odd sweep, or get deep in the crease -- like Mushfiqur (Rahim) has shown. He is not a big hitter, but he manipulates the ball brilliantly. So the guys have got a great example for them,” he stated.

While the series may be lost, today’s match is not quite a dead-rubber as there are still World Cup Super League points to play for. Sri Lanka will be desperate to get their campaign up and running as they currently sit on the bottom of the table with minus two points (owing to slow over-rate in the West Indies) after five games.