Sri Lanka head coach Rumesh Ratnayake has been disappointed with his team’s performance at the T20 World Cup and stated as “not acceptable” after being knocked out of the semi-final competition by India.
Sri Lanka has lost all three matches so far in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 and cannot advance to the playoff stages.
Since the last T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka has won a series in England and South Africa and has been undefeated in the World Cup qualifiers in Abu Dhabi and also beat Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India in the Asia Cup tournament.
After a series defeat against India, Rumesh Ratnayake said, “It was bad playing through and through this tournament.
“They’ve been doing poor cricket, and that is not acceptable. We’ve been talking about it, we’ve tried to come out of it and we’ve tried various things, we’ve been fearlessly doing things, freely doing things, and I think the skill has failed us when it has been really important.”
She also spoke about Sri Lanka’s batting. They have not crossed 100 runs in any of the three matches irrespective of batting or chasing first. Sri Lanka star Chamari Athapaththu has been dismissed for single-digit runs so far in the tournament.
While tracking Athapaththu’s scores, she scored 0 and 22 runs in the ODI series against Ireland.
“From the second match up to the fifth match [in Ireland], there were situations where we were on top and we faltered,” Ratnayake said.
“Our preparation was really good back home,” he said. “We played on various types of wickets. We simulated some of those similar situations, but winning those moments, winning those appropriate situations, decision-making along with the skill hasn’t been backed up.”
“The skill did not come through as it did as you said in the finals of the Asia Cup. So that’s something which we need to work on, rethink and come back.”
After successfully chasing the target of 166 runs in the Asia Cup finals, Athapaththu and Harshitha are considered potential batters.
“In the past 22 months, we’ve worked hard on creating an environment which is conducive for learning,” he said. “So we are not only building up in confidence so that we would back ourselves with the skill as well.”
“Overconfidence is a thing which is verbally not accepted in our environment, so I don’t think it’s overconfidence, but they are confident enough,” he said. “That is what we thrive on and that is what we emphasise on. It’s just that when needed, we haven’t won the moments,” concluded Rumesh Ratnayake.
Sri Lanka women will be playing their next and final match of the World Cup campaign against New Zealand on October 12 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
