“The confidence in the dressing room is great,” Dasun Shanaka said during the post-match press conference. “The bowlers in the patch, they bowled well. Credit to Dilshan and Theekshana, they bowled really well. The batsmen came up against them, but we did well,” he said.
Sri Lanka had a disappointing start to their Asia Cup campaign as they suffered an eight-wicket loss against Afghanistan. But since then, they have been phenomenal with three consecutive wins. They defeated Bangladesh in the group stage and Afghanistan and India in the Super 4.
Team Sri Lanka has won all the matches while chasing, two were record chess. Consistently achieving the target above 170 shows the change in attitude and mindset of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has gotten better in international cricket ever since Chris Silverwood came to Sri Lanka’s coaching position.
“We had a good discussion after the first game and we know what we can do. Pathum and Kusal set the pace brilliantly and Rajapaksa and I followed,” the Sri Lankan captain said.
Despite bowling only a few overs, Dasun took two crucial wickets [Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya] to stump India’s middle order. When he was adjudged the player of the match for his all-round performance, the captain was asked why he did not meet his bowling quota.
Shanaka concluded, “It is because of the team combination, so I am not bowling my quota. I need the team to make the best decision.”
Obviously, Sri Lanka has now become a strong contender to win the Asia Cup. If we look away from the formality, then the final seems to be happening between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Dasun Shanaka is leading the team in an excellent way and has managed to take wickets and score runs as captain.