Follow UsEver since losing to New Zealand in the second group-stage encounter of the 2021 T20 World Cup, India have been in phenomenal form in the shortest format of the game. The Men in Blue clobbered Sri Lanka 3-0 and became only the second Test-playing nation after Afghanistan to win 12 T20Is in a row. Former Sri Lankan middle-order batter Russel Arnold feels India are making all the right moves ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup but has warned Rohit Sharma and Co. against complacency.
"India can’t get complacent. You have to be cocky, I don’t blame you to be cocky because that’s the fact of the matter. India have made lots of changes, and wherever they turn, there are quality players coming out. They are not giving any breathing space to the opposition," Arnold told Cricket.com.
"They have won 12 games on the trot, which is a good achievement from the T20 World Cup point of view. At the end of the day, you can only take care of things that are in front of you. They were able to try new players and that’s what depth does to you. The batting, they are scoring runs from everywhere. Sometimes, they play risk-free cricket but are still moving forward."
In the pace department, India used Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah against Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar are not part of this series. India have enough fast bowlers in their arsenal but Arnold thinks they do need a left-armer to bring some variety.
"Yes, you need variety, that’s for sure. One is the angle you can create. You can’t have bowlers of similar kinds. There’s still some time left and it’s a great time for all the left-armers in the IPL to step up because that’s where you will look at. You need a bit of everything to make things unpredictable for a batsman."
Sri Lanka surely missed the services of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana as their bowling unit couldn't put a lot of pressure on India. The likes of Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara troubled Indian batters with their pace but weren't consistent. Arnold feels once those two spinners are back, Sri Lanka do have the attack to put pressure on any batting line-up.
"This is a hard one because sometimes the way you lose a game can hurt. I was expecting a much stronger performance from the Sri Lankans. So, really disappointed. At times, they look very exciting but they seem to fall away most of the time. They surely missed Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana because Sri Lanka don’t have the depth India have. So, they need their main players out there and firing all the time.
"What Chameera and Kumara do bring to the table is fantastic. As a unit, they will be threatening. If Sri Lanka will have all their frontline bowlers, they will be quite a handful and exciting to watch. You have these guys bowling in the 140s, and then Theekshana is slightly different, while Hasaranga is canny. It makes for a very good bowling attack."
While most of the Sri Lankan batters struggled to get going, skipper Dasun Shanaka impressed everyone with his power-hitting down the order. The right-hander smoked 47* off 19 deliveries in the second T20I and then followed it up with a blistering knock of 74* off 38 deliveries in the final encounter. Surprisingly, he had a strike rate of way below 110 prior to this series.
“This is the Dasun Shanaka we know. It was surprising to see that his strike rate was just around 107 in this format, probably because of the pressure of international cricket and captaining the team. Finally, he is starting to express himself as a batter. If you are expressing yourself and doing your job, it will rub off on your teammates. It was fantastic to see him play those shots despite other players struggling around him. This will give us confidence going forward. We lost to Australia and India but things are starting to come together for Sri Lanka.”
Sri Lanka were no match to India in the T20I series but Arnold feels they will put up a much better fight in the forthcoming two-match Test series, starting on March 4 in Mohali. “The Test squad Sri Lanka have looks good. They have experienced players in the squad. They have got players who are good for the grind.
“Dimuth Karunaratne is one of the best Test openers and he is going to be crucial up the order. Pathum Nissanka is solid in red-ball cricket and then you also have guys like Angelo Mathews and Charith Asalanka. In the bowling department, they have Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Lasith Embuldeniya and Suranga Lakmal. It’s all about staying in the game. You can lose a game in an hour or a session. To win a Test match, you have to keep going for a longer period. I think this batch can do that.”