Follow UsWanindu Hasaranga feels Sri Lanka will have to improve their batting if they want to compete with the top sides in the shortest format of the game. Sri Lanka could only manage scores of 128 and 124/9 in the first two T20Is against Australia and have already lost the three-match series with a game to spare.
Amongst the top-10 ranked T20I sides, Sri Lanka have the third-worst batting average (19.3) and scoring rate (7.1) since the last World Cup. They were hammered by 10 wickets in the first T20I but managed to put up a good fight in the second encounter. Hasaranga took four wickets but it was still not enough as Australia won the game by three wickets. In the end, they simply didn't have enough runs on the board.
"There's a weakness in our lower middle order and lower order. Right now, they are a little bit out of form, and we have to accept that. Our target is the World Cup. If we can add 10% more on the batting side in the next match, and in the series coming up, we'll be in a much better place. In these two games our batting had a few small mistakes," said Hasaranga.
"In the series to come, we have to bring our batting and bowling up to the same level. On the bowling front, we're doing pretty well. If we can make a close match out of a match like this when they were just chasing 125, that means our bowling is in good shape. I think by October (when the World Cup starts) we will get better as we play more and more matches."
The legspinner leaked 27 runs in two overs in the first T20I but bounced back brilliantly in the second match. The sixth-ranked T20I bowler got the wickets of Aaron Finch, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Ashton Agar and managed to keep Sri Lanka in the contest.
"When I bowled yesterday, they hit 27 runs off my two overs. When you're chasing a small total, any team has less pressure on them. The pressure is on us. So they attack. But then a team like this will anyway try to attack me in the first two overs, because if they push me out of the game early on they gain the high ground. That's what I feel.
"But then I like it when they attack me. Rather than batsmen closing up and defending, I can get wickets when they attack. I can put the team in a better position that way."