Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said on Wednesday that the visitors have a powerful enough squad to face India in the T20I series, starting February 24, despite the absence of spinner Wanindu Hasaranga. The World No. 4 T20I spinner was ruled out of the series opener as he is still in isolation in Australia after testing positive for Covid-19.
Sri Lanka had arrived in Lucknow earlier this week after losing a 5-match T20I series 1-4 to Australia in Australia. Hasaranga missed the last 3 T20Is in Australia due to Covid-19 and did not recover in time to travel with the rest of the Sri Lankan team to India.
Hasaranga, who has been one of Sri Lanka’s threatening bowlers, will at least miss the first T20I in Lucknow as Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed on Wednesday that the spinner will be in isolation in Canberra until he returns a negative RT-PCR test for Covid-19.
“The youngsters have been in the system for a while, they have performed in domestic cricket. It has become normal with the Covid situation. All the teams are facing it. Wanindu will be a weakness for us but we know that he will be back soon. Still, our squad is strong enough,” Shanaka said on the eve of the first T20I in Lucknow.
“They have players with lots of IPL experience. They would be very strong. But we have a good side as well,” he added.
Shanaka, meanwhile, urged the top-order to take more responsibility against a strong Indian side in the upcoming3-match series. The islanders were handed a 4-1 defeat in Australia as their batting unit let them down. Barring Pathum Nisssanka, who hit 184 runs in 5 T20Is and topped the batting charts, none of the other batters in the top-order stepped up.
”We want the top-order to fire. Whenever the top order is among the runs we have a better chance of winning,” he said.
”India have a strong bowling lineup and we are expecting our top-order to fire which will give our bowlers a chance to defend.”
