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What will Sri Lanka’s squad look like for the 2022 Asia Cup?
The Sri Lankan cricketers have proved in the last two years that they can play according to the situation. Although there was some decline in cricket with players like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena retiring from the game, the emergence of young cricketers has been a notable feature, as they have been able to showcase their talent in various T20 leagues around the world.
Pathum Nishanka and Dhanushka Gunathilaka are scheduled to open the Sri Lankan innings. Both of them are known for scoring runs fast. But they can give Sri Lanka a very steady start. Charith at number three has the potential to get in close range and anchor the innings if a few quick wickets fall.
Kusal Mendis at number four and Bhanuka Rajapaksa at number five have the ability to show an aggressive style of play. Rajapaksa’s scoring consistency is questionable, but he can give a good start. The team is led by Dasun Shanaka who is a very good batsman.
Wanindu Hasaranga is currently the most important player in the Sri Lankan cricket team. He managed to take 26 wickets in the last league representing the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the IPL. Can be a threatening bowler on UAE pitches. As he is an all-rounder, he can provide the necessary support to the team with the batting as well.
Dushmantha Chamira’s injury has been a big loss for the Sri Lankan team. Chamika Karunaratne has to take on additional responsibility in the tournament. He can also contribute with the bat, which will strengthen the team’s middle order. Meanwhile, Nuwan Thushara has been included in the squad instead of Chamira who was injured.
19-year-old Mathisa Pathirana will be an important bowler in this team. A surprising change can be made in the tournament by Pathirana known as ‘Baby Malinga’. with Right-arm off-spinner Mahesh Thiekshana completes the squad.
Sri Lanka Predicted Squad – Pathum Nissanka, Danushka Gunathilaka, Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Nuwan Thusara, Maheesh Theeksana, Matheesa Pathirana
2022 ආසියානු කුසලානය සඳහා වන ශ්රී ලංකාවේ සංයුතිය කෙසේ වේද?
තත්වයට ගැලපෙන අයුරින් ක්රීඩා කල හැකි බව ශ්රී ලංකා ක්රිකට් ක්රීඩකයින් පසුගිය වසර දෙකක කාලය තුළ ඔප්පු කර ඇත. කුමාර් සංගක්කාර, මහේල ජයවර්ධන වැනි ක්රීඩකයන් ක්රීඩාවෙන් විශ්රාම ගැනීමත් සමග ක්රිකට් ක්රීඩාවේ යම් කිසි පසුබෑමක් දක්නට ලැබුනත්, නවක ක්රිකට් ක්රීඩකයින් දක්ෂතා අතරට පැමිණීම කැපී පෙනෙන ලක්ෂණයක් විය, ඔවුන් ලොව පුරා විවිධ T20 ලීගවල දක්ෂතා පෙන්වීමට සමත්ව ඇත.
පැතුම් නිශ්ශංක සහ ධනුෂ්ක ගුණතිලක ශ්රී ලංකා ඉනිම ආරම්භ කිරීමට නියමිතය. ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා වේගවත් ලකුණු ලකුණු ලබා ගැනීම සදහා ප්රසිද්ධ නොමැත. නමුත් ඔවුන්ට ශ්රී ලංකාවට ඉතා ස්ථාවර ආරම්භයක් ලබා දිය හැකිය. අංක තුනේ සිටින චරිත් අසලංකට ලකුණු අතරට පිවිසිය හැකි අතරම ඉක්මන් කඩුලු කිහිපයක් බිද වැටීමකදී ඉනිමට නැංගුරමක් වීමේ හැකියාව පවතී.
අංක හතරේ කුසල් මෙන්ඩිස් හා පහේ භානුක රාජපක්ෂට ආක්රමණශීලී ක්රීඩා රටාවක් පෙන්නුම් කිරීමේ හැකියාවක් පවතී. රාජපක්ෂගේ ලකුණු ලබා ගැනීමේ ස්ථාවරත්වය පිළිබද ප්රශ්නාර්ථයක් ඇති නමුත් ඔහුට හොඳ ආරම්භයක් ලබා දිය හැකිය. කණ්ඩායමේ නායකත්වය දසුන් ශානක විසින් මෙහෙයවනු ලබන අතර ඔහු ඉතා හොඳින් පන්දුවට පහරදීමට හැකි ක්රීඩකයෙකි.
වනිඳු හසරංග මේ වන විට ශ්රී ලංකා ක්රිකට් කණ්ඩායමේ වැදගත්ම ක්රීඩකයා වේ. IPL තරඟාවලියේ Royal Challengers Bangalore කණ්ඩායම නියෝජනය කරමින් පසුගිය ලීගයේ කඩුලු 26ක් දවා ගැනීමට සමත් විය. එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්යයේ තණතීරුවල තර්ජනාත්මක පන්දු යවන්නෙකු විය හැකිය. ඔහු තුන් ඉරියව් ක්රීඩකයෙකු වන බැවින් පිතිකරණයෙන්ද කණ්ඩායමට අවශ්ය සහයෝගය ලබා දිය හැකිය.
දුෂ්මන්ත චමීරගේ ආබාධය ලංකා කණ්ඩායමට විශාල පාඩුවක් වී ඇත. චාමික කරුණාරත්නට තරගාවලියේ අමතර වගකීමක් භාර ගැනීමට සිදුවේ. ඔහුට පිත්තෙන් ද දායක විය හැකි අතර, එය කණ්ඩායමේ මැද පෙළට ශක්තියක් වනු ඇත. මේ අතර ආබාධයකට ලක්වූ චමීර වෙනුවට නුවන් තුෂාර සංචිතයට ඇතුළත් කර ඇත.
19 හැවිරිදි මතීස පතිරණ මෙම කණ්ඩයමේ වැදගත් පන්දු යවන්නෙකු වනු ඇත. ‘බේබි මාලිංග’ ලෙසින් හැඳින්වෙන පතිරණ තරගාවලියේ දී පුදුම සහගත වෙනසක් කල හැකිය. දකුණත් පිට දඟ පන්දු යවන මහීෂ් තීක්ෂණ කණ්ඩායමට ඇතුළත් වීමෙන් කණ්ඩායම සම්පූර්ණ වේ.
ශ්රී ලංකා අනුමාන කල හැකි කණ්ඩායම – Pathum Nissanka, Danushka Gunathilaka, Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Nuwan Thusara, Maheesh Theeksana, Matheesa Pathirana
2022 ஆசிய கோப்பைக்கான இலங்கை அணி எப்படி இருக்கும்?
சூழ்நிலைக்கு ஏற்ப விளையாட முடியும் என்பதை இலங்கை கிரிக்கெட் வீரர்கள் கடந்த இரண்டு ஆண்டுகளில் நிரூபித்துள்ளனர். குமார் சங்கக்கார மற்றும் மஹேல ஜயவர்தன போன்ற வீரர்கள் விளையாட்டிலிருந்து ஓய்வு பெற்றதன் மூலம் கிரிக்கெட்டில் சில சரிவு ஏற்பட்டாலும், இளம் கிரிக்கெட் வீரர்கள் உலகம் முழுவதும் உள்ள பல்வேறு T20 லீக்குகளில் தங்கள் திறமையை வெளிப்படுத்த முடிந்தது குறிப்பிடத்தக்க அம்சமாகும்.
இலங்கை இன்னிங்ஸை பாத்தும் நிஷங்க மற்றும் தனுஷ்க குணதிலகா தொடக்கி வைக்க உள்ளனர். இருவரும் வேகமாக ரன் குவிப்பதில் பெயர் பெற்றவர்கள். மற்றும் அவர்களால் இலங்கைக்கு மிகவும் நிலையான தொடக்கத்தை கொடுக்க முடியும். மூன்றாவது இடத்தில் இருக்கும் சாரிட், ஒரு சில விரைவான விக்கெட்டுகளை வீழ்ந்தாலும், இன்னிங்ஸை நெருங்கி, நங்கூரமிடவும் திறன் கொண்டவர்.
நான்காம் இடத்தில் உள்ள குசல் மெண்டிஸும் ஐந்தாவது இடத்தில் உள்ள பானுகா ராஜபக்சவும் ஆக்ரோஷமான ஆட்டத்தை வெளிப்படுத்தும் திறன் பெற்றுள்ளனர். ராஜபக்சேவின் ஸ்கோரின் நிலைத்தன்மை கேள்விக்குறியாக இருந்தாலும், அவர் ஒரு நல்ல தொடக்கத்தை கொடுக்க முடியும். சிறந்த பேட்ஸ்மேனாக திகழும் தசுன் ஷனக தலைமையில் இந்த அணி உள்ளது.
வனிந்து ஹசரங்க தற்போது இலங்கை கிரிக்கெட் அணியின் முக்கிய வீரராக உள்ளார். ஐபிஎல் தொடரில் பெங்களூர் ராயல் சேலஞ்சர்ஸ் அணியை பிரதிநிதித்துவப்படுத்தும் கடைசி லீக்கில் 26 விக்கெட்டுகளை வீழ்த்தினார். UAE ஆடுகளங்களில் அச்சுறுத்தும் பந்துவீச்சாளராக இருக்கலாம். ஆல்-ரவுண்டர் என்பதால், பேட்டிங்கிலும் அணிக்கு தேவையான ஆதரவை அவரால் வழங்க முடியும்.
துஷ்மந்த சமிரவின் காயம் இலங்கை அணிக்கு பெரும் இழப்பாகும். சாமிக்க கருணாரத்ன போட்டியில் கூடுதல் பொறுப்பை ஏற்க வேண்டியுள்ளது. அவர் பேட்டிங்கிலும் பங்களிக்க முடியும், இது அணியின் மிடில் ஆர்டரை பலப்படுத்தும். இதேவேளை, காயமடைந்த சமிரவுக்கு பதிலாக நுவன் துஷார அணியில் இணைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளார்.
19 வயதான மதிச பத்திரன இந்த அணியில் முக்கியமான பந்துவீச்சாளராக இருப்பார். ‘பேபி மலிங்கா’ என போற்றப்படும் பத்திரன போட்டியில் வியப்பூட்டும் மாற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்த முடியும். வலது கை ஆஃப் ஸ்பின்னர் மகேஷ் தீக்ஷனாவுடன் அணியை நிறைவடைகிறது.
இலங்கை அணி – பதும் நிஸ்ஸங்க, தனுஷ்க குணதிலக்க, சரித் அசலங்கா, குசல் மெண்டிஸ், பானுக ராஜபக்ச, தசுன் ஷனக, வனிந்து ஹசரங்க, சாமிக்க கருணாரத்ன, நுவான் துசார, மஹீஷ் தீக்சன, மதீச பத்திரன
Cricket
Sri Lanka Stunned by Zimbabwe Despite 178 as Bowling Falters in Colombo
Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup campaign suffered a major setback as they went down to Zimbabwe by six wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium — a result few predicted before the first ball was bowled.
After winning the toss and opting to bat, Sri Lanka posted what appeared to be a competitive 178/7. But defensive bowling and a lack of control in key moments allowed Zimbabwe to chase down 179 with three balls to spare, finishing on 182/4 in 19.3 overs.
Where Sri Lanka Lost the Game
Strong Start, Poor Finish with the Bat
Sri Lanka flew out of the blocks, scoring 61 runs in the Powerplay.
- Pathum Nissanka led the charge with a fluent 62 off 41 balls.
- The opening stand raced to 54 inside five overs.
However, momentum dipped sharply in the middle overs:
- Kusal Mendis struggled (14 off 20).
- The run rate slowed between overs 7–14.
- Despite a late push from Pavan Rathnayake (44 off 25), Sri Lanka managed only 28 runs in the final three overs.
From a position of dominance at 108/2, they could not push beyond the 185–190 mark — a total that, in hindsight, proved costly.
Failure to Strike Early with the Ball
Zimbabwe’s chase was built on a solid foundation:
- 55 runs in the Powerplay without losing a wicket.
- 69-run opening stand removed early pressure.
Sri Lanka never truly regained control.
The Raza–Bennett Counterattack
The turning point came when captain Sikandar Raza launched a brutal counterattack:
- 45 off 26 balls
- 4 sixes
- 50-run partnership in just 27 balls
Brian Bennett anchored the chase superbly with an unbeaten 63 off 48.
Raza’s assault in overs 15–18 shifted the momentum completely, taking the game away from Sri Lanka just when it seemed evenly poised.
Bowling Concerns Under Lights
Sri Lanka’s bowling lacked penetration:
- Maheesh Theekshana conceded 47 in 3.3 overs (13.42 economy).
- No early breakthroughs from the seamers.
- Only one Powerplay wicket across both innings combined.
On a Colombo surface that slowed slightly, Zimbabwe adapted better, rotating strike efficiently before accelerating at the death.
Key Numbers That Hurt Sri Lanka
- Zimbabwe Powerplay: 55/0
- Sri Lanka Powerplay wickets: 0
- Zimbabwe scored 150 in just 16.1 overs
- Sri Lanka conceded 9.33 runs per over in the chase
What This Means
Sri Lanka entered as favourites, especially batting first at home. But tactical lapses, middle-over stagnation, and expensive spells under pressure proved decisive.
Zimbabwe, disciplined with the ball and fearless in the chase, fully deserved their two points.
For Sri Lanka, questions now emerge:
- Is the bowling attack lacking bite?
- Are middle overs becoming a recurring concern?
- Was 178 ever going to be enough on this surface?
With tougher fixtures ahead in the T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka must regroup quickly — because performances like this could derail their campaign early.
Cricket
Sri Lanka Sweats on Pathirana Injury; Hasaranga Comeback on the Cards
Sri Lanka’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign has suffered a major setback, with fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana likely to miss the remainder of the tournament due to injury.
The 23-year-old sustained a calf injury during Sri Lanka’s Group B encounter against Australia on Monday at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. The incident occurred in his opening over when, after delivering the fourth ball, Pathirana suddenly pulled up clutching his left calf before collapsing to the ground in visible discomfort.
Team physiotherapists rushed onto the field as concerned teammates gathered around. The pacer was unable to leave the field without assistance, immediately raising concerns about the severity of the injury. Captain Dasun Shanaka completed the over in his absence.
Shortly after, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) confirmed that Pathirana would take no further part in the match. In a brief statement, SLC said the bowler had experienced discomfort in his left calf and would undergo medical scans for a full assessment.
Major Blow to Pace Attack
Initial indications suggest the injury could rule Pathirana out for the rest of the World Cup — a significant loss for Sri Lanka’s bowling unit. Known for his slingy action and deadly yorkers, especially at the death, Pathirana has been one of Sri Lanka’s most reliable T20 strike bowlers.
If ruled out, team management is expected to consider Dilshan Madushanka or Nuwan Thushara as potential replacements. While both offer pace and variety, replacing Pathirana’s unique skillset will be a challenge.
Hasaranga Return Under Discussion
In a parallel development, Sri Lanka are reportedly exploring the possibility of bringing Wanindu Hasaranga back into the squad as he continues recovery from a hamstring injury.
Although Hasaranga has not yet regained full match fitness, officials are said to be evaluating whether he could feature later in the tournament — particularly if Sri Lanka qualify for the Super Eight stage.
With their final group match effectively a dead rubber, Sri Lanka have a short window to reassess their injury situation and make strategic decisions. The team management is likely to wait for clearer medical reports before confirming any squad changes.
As the tournament enters a decisive phase, Sri Lanka’s hopes may depend as much on fitness updates as on performances on the field.
Cricket
Colombo Set for High-Voltage India–Pakistan Night Battle
ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup
Colombo is preparing for one of cricket’s biggest nights as India and Pakistan meet in a marquee clash of the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.
Beyond tactics and statistics, this is a contest built on history and pride. With both teams in form and World Cup ambitions on the line, Sunday night promises a high-quality contest under the Colombo lights.
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