Sri Lanka will be facing Nepal on Wednesday (June 12) at the Central Broward Regional Park. In order to stay in the T20 World Cup, it is essential for Sri Lanka to win this match against Nepal.
Following their defeats against Bangladesh and South Africa, the Lions would look to win this match with a good score.
Recently, Sri Lanka faced a defeat against Bangladesh on Saturday (June 8) by two wickets.
All the teams in Group D have not managed to score more than Sri Lanka’s 124 runs. Moreover, in the face-off between South Africa and Bangladesh, the Proteas scored 113 while Bangladesh made 109 runs and were defeated by 4 runs. Followed by South Africa (106) against Netherlands (103) on Saturday (June 8) and between Netherlands (109) and Nepal (106) on Tuesday (June 4).
"Now people are realising how unpredictable the pitches are," stated Sri Lankan fast bowling coach Aaqib Javed ahead of their game against Nepal. "We were the first ones who'd gone through this process. Because I mean, look, as a player, you cannot expect anything like that, which we played the first time in New York on a new pitch. Now the people are realising what total to place, and what they're expecting when they're choosing even a small total.
"Even though the Dallas pitch we played was I think one of the best in the country to bat on, still these new conditions are surprising, not just us, but many teams. The batters especially, they've gone through a lot. This is not the normal behaviour of the pitches and the conditions. So, I think now the teams will change their strategies, and there will be a little bit of change in the homework as well."
Despite losing two games against South Africa and Bangladesh, Sri Lanka is still in game with a chance of qualifying for the next stage. Nevertheless, the team need to win the forthcoming match against Nepal.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan coach believes that the team is not playing up to the mark from the scratch.
"The beauty of this World Cup is that you cannot take easy to anything. We have seen some outstanding results from the associate teams. I think honestly if you look at the pitch, you have to be very careful, especially as a batter. How to adapt, what to leave out, and I think the best plan is to go out there and assess the situation and conditions.
"If you ask me, what happened in New York, nobody knew what was going to be the wicket behaviour. [Score of] 77 was never enough. Even in the second game, we could have scored 150 to 160 because if you look at the batting card, we scored like 24 in the last six overs, we didn't capitalise."
On the other hand, the coach is satisfied with the team’s performance in bowling, they did their best to defend a low score of 77 against South Africa.
"I'm really happy and enjoying the role as a bowling coach because this is one of the bowling sides which can challenge anyone. The ideal combo for any international team. You have the best leg-spinner in the world, you have a mystery bowler, and you have slingers which is very unique and very effective in T20 cricket.
"It's not easy all the time to defend the low totals, but so far, I think it's good to see the captain leading from the front and you can see that energy in the field as well. And still, I think we have very good bowling options. I'm really satisfied so far."
- Aaqib Javed
