Today, England suffered a painful defeat to Sri Lanka at Chinnaswamy Stadium in India. They played their fifth match in this World Cup with three losses in previous games. This is a must-win match for both sides.
Anyway, England won the toss and decided to bat first. Think of getting unreachable total and attacking Sri Lanka with their fast bowlers. It is a good idea. If they get 350 plus runs, it is easy to give tension to the opponent.
Sri Lanka players should have shown decisive outcomes in their first four matches in this tournament. But they failed because some unavoidable situations arose from the first game. Sri Lankans showed very confused game patterns: many injuries, lack of capacity of captain, fast bowlers failures and many more. Even their main trump card, Matheesha Pathirana, a bowling action similar to the Lasith Malinga, failed in the first two matches and got injured.
Kusal Mendis is another considering point. Whatever happened to the Dasun Shanaka, injured or not, selectors decided to change the captain after the first two consecutive losses. Kusal Mendis became a new captain.(acting or permanent)In the first two matches, Mendis gave a clear picture of him. He scored a very quick century and a half-century. After the first two matches, every team started paying close attention to Mendis. Kusal became the turning point for the Sri Lankan team. But what happened? After unexpectedly becoming the captain, he is under some pressure. After becoming the captain, he failed with the bat in the two matches he faced.
The England team may have considered this before today’s game. Looking at it like this, it is the right decision for the England team to win the toss and decide to bat.
What happened in the first ball of the match that Madushanka bowled? It was an LBW. But Vice-captain Dananjaya thought there was no need to review. In the end, TV replays showed it was an out.
Even though they brought luck to England from the very first ball, they could not take advantage of it. However, the Sri Lankan bowlers performed very well in this match. Lahiru Kumara, who was blamed for giving many runs while bowling in the previous game, not only managed to get three precious wickets but also became the man of the match.
However, England’s innings had to collapse very quickly. The Sri Lankan bowlers and the fielders turned the game to their advantage in a way they never imagined. In the end, the Sri Lankan players limited England’s innings to 156 runs. England’s batters spent 33.2 overs to score 156 runs.
The Sri Lankan batters got a winning run with a beautiful six in 25.4 overs. Captain Kusal Mendis failed in this match as well. The third match he participated in after receiving the leadership was also a bitter match for Mendis. It is still too early to see whether he can serve the team with the batting while bearing the pressure of the leadership.
However, it was seen in today’s match that the team got a lot of energy from the return of Angelo Mathews. His presence almost balanced the team. Mathews managed to get two wickets in the first match. It is good to decide to add him to the team later, but the Sri Lanka selection committee should be ashamed of how far they are making the right decisions in selecting the team.
This selection committee should have considered selecting Dinesh Chandimal, who should have joined this team. However, the selection committee is fully responsible for any situation the Sri Lankan team experiences in this tournament.
What happened to the England team in the end? What can the team say about the former world champions falling into such a helpless state. Maybe they were overestimating themselves? Or is it difficult for them to play in the Indian subcontinent? Or is the team in a slump? After this defeat, England’s place in the last four teams is hanging by a thin thread. Even if they win the next four matches, there is a high chance that they will be eliminated in the first round in a very embarrassing manner. English cricket fans look at this retreat of the team with great disappointment and anger.
