After the introduction of twenty-20 Cricket and the advent of T20 league around the globe, ODI Cricket also changed significantly in last one decade. Now, 300+ score has become a routine for every ODI Team. At least one player in every team has 150+ ODI score to his name.
Moreover, every ODI team now has at least three batsmen with a strike rate over 90, and capable of hitting big sixes.
So, Chasing a target of 300+ has also become a habit, while nowadays tricky scores like 210 or 220 or 230 being chased like a t20 score, in 20 overs, 25 overs!
Though, Sri Lanka, for some strange reason, sticking with the old age formula by packing it’s ODI squad with test batsmen. It looks more mysterious, odd and strange, as it was Sri Lanka who changed the ODI cricket during the 1996, and many years to come after, with fearless stroke makers in the team.
The squad played yesterday match against Pakistan in at Abu Dhabi, featured three batsmen in top six with a strike rate less then 80.
Captain Upul Tharanga has a strike rate of 75 in 212 ODIs, Lahiru Thirimane 71 in 112 ODIs and Dinesh Chandimal has a strike rate of 74 in 131 ODIs. Kusal Mendis, the youngest among all, has a better strike rate of 84 in 34 matches so far, though it was largely due to his early free flowing innings, when he was an fluent stroke maker.
It’s obvious, Sri Lanka can’t win matches regularly with these kind of strike rates, whenever the target is more than 250.
Lahiru Thirimane, whom Legends like Kumar Sangakkara and Aravinda De Silva backs unconditionally and openly says he must feature in every squad, every format Sri Lanka plays, has a habit to goes back to shell, whenever the opposite side brings pressure. For him to handle the pressure is all about blocking the balls. He doesn’t even bother to rotate the strike and take singles here and there. He just blocks, as he did yesterday, with his painful innings of 12 runs in 34 balls. Two wickets down in first five overs is nothing new in ODI cricket. In past Sri Lanka too had players like Aravinda De Silva, who used to dismantle opposition even after two quick wickets, as he had most famously done it against India in Calcutta in the semi final of 1996 world cup.
Two of the best finishers of modern day cricket MS Dhoni and Angelo Mathews also eats up ball in the beginning, but they wins matches for their teams, they takes the responsibility to win the match by their own. But, Thirimane just blocks the balls, and then gets out!
Then, Chandimal comes to bat right after Thirimane! After his historic feat in just concluded test series against Pakistan, Kumar Sangakkara openly said Chandimal also must feature in all three formats. Chandimal is a great test batsman, probably the best Sri Lanka has right now.
But, he doesn’t seems a ODI batsman, let alone t20 Cricket. Most times, he finds it painfully difficult to keep going in his ODI innings. He finds it difficult to form a reasonable partnership with set batsman at other end and pulls out Sri Lanka from crisis.
Now, among remaining two : Upul Tharanga and Kusal Mendis, it’s curious case.
Tharanga, though he has also a below par strike rate of 71, is a batsman who can anchor the innings, like he did yesterday. He is not like Thirimane and Chandimal, who eats up balls and then gets out. Even if he slows down and plays waiting game, he has the capacity to catch up later with wide range of strokes. Most importantly, he can play those long innings and can score those big hundreds. So, even with his low strike rate, he is more vital player for Sri Lanka in ODI cricket than Thirimane and Chandimal.
Kusal Mendis, meanwhile, is going through a horrific time with the bat. He is too young to be judged that much early. He will blossom and will come back strongly.
At the end, it’s obvious, Sri Lanka can’t play with Tharanga, Kusal Mendis, Lahiru Thirimane and Dinesh Chandimal in the same squad.
And, Among all, Tharanga and Kusal Mendis seems automatic pics. Especially when Sri Lanka also has Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne and Kusal Perera, who are recovering from injuries and very soon will join the team!
