Pinnaduwege Vanindu Hasaranga de Silva Surprised us a bit

Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie admitted that his side was surprised to see Vanindu Hasaranga bat at No 5 for Sri Lanka in their T20 World Cup Round 1 encounter on Wednesday (October 20). Sri Lanka gave Vanindu Hasaranga a promotion at a very crucial stage, when Josh Little troubled him in the second over by dismissing both Dinesh Chandimal and Avishka Fernando with successive deliveries.

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Vanindu was only reeling on 8/3 to launch a surprise counter-attack for Hasaranga

At that point, the Asian side was only reeling in at 8/3 to launch a surprise counter-attack for Wanindu Hasaranga. Vanindu Hasaranga was particularly serious against spinner Simi Singh. Regularly sent them for boundaries as Ireland had no clue to stop their attack. Eventually, he scored 71 runs in just 47 balls. And the second half-century was involved with Pathum Nisanka scoring a century as Sri Lanka scored 171 runs.

“Yeah, he obviously surprised us. And look, I thought he played really well,” Balbirnie said after the game. “We obviously set up areas that we’ve backed in a couple of years. And they fought like that and probably caught us in the hop. But that’s what happens when you play against world-class cricketers. They You can do this.

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Could have bowled a little better at the top to the new players

“We probably could have bowled a little better at the top to the new players. But you have to give them credit. But of course, halfway through, we knew that if we bat well, we will be there or will be there, But we couldn’t really move with the bat, and that’s disappointing.”

Ireland were always on the back foot in the run chase as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were eventually bowled out for 101 runs. Balbirnie praised Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers and admitted that they were undercooked to handle genuine pace on skiddy surfaces. “We don’t prepare for it, we don’t get wickets like that,” he said. “We don’t get that kind of pace often back home. Certainly club cricket, club grounds of countries, unfortunately, can’t really get wickets like that, but look, the more we level up, and If we go well, next week on Friday, it’s only going to get faster, and we’re going to have to adapt fast.

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Vanindu Hasranga bowls a good short ball

“Vanindu Hasaranga bowled a good short ball, but that’s what you expect in international cricket. We have to find ways to deal with it and very quickly. We are fully capable of bowling fast. I’m not saying we don’t. We have played against South Africa in the summer at home with some fast bowlers and we have done really well.

“It’s a little different here. It’s skidier than we’re used to. But it clearly skids especially under lights. But I love that challenge and I think a lot of our batsmen out there Come out. And face the fight and the balls go over your head. That’s what you want to do; that’s the fight you want to be in.”

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After the loss, Ireland will now have to beat Namibia on Friday to cement their place in the Super 12 stage and Sri Lanka will become the first team in the group to qualify for the next round. “We definitely wanted to come and win today and potentially not have Friday in our mind. But you want to win all the games,” Balberni said. “But we came up against a really good Sri Lankan team today and of course our focus is completely shifting on Friday. Which turns out to be pretty straight knockouts.

Vanindu Hasaranga said we know their threats:

Vanindu Hasaranga said. We know their threats. And we know they are a good team. They ran us very close in the qualifiers a few years ago, and it’s going to be a really good game. Two good ones. The teams are finally gunning for a big prize. We’ll rest tomorrow. And come to Sharjah on Friday and look forward to the challenge.”