(SL Cricket)
Sri Lanka’s skipper Wanindu Hasaranga and spinner Maheesh Theekshana voiced their displeasure regarding their T20 World Cup schedule.
Wanindu Hasaranga, the captain of Sri Lanka, along with spinner Maheesh Theekshana, voiced their discontent with the scheduling of their matches in the T20 World Cup.
Following a 6-wicket loss in their tournament opener against South Africa in a low-scoring encounter, Sri Lanka swiftly concluded their media obligations.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Sri Lanka hurried back to their Brooklyn hotel to pack up, check out, and catch their 6 pm flight to Dallas for their upcoming game against Bangladesh on Friday. Prior to their match against South Africa, Sri Lanka faced training constraints, being delayed at the Miami airport for seven hours before boarding their flight to New York.
After the game, Theekshana expressed his dissatisfaction over their scheduling and said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo, “So unfair for us, we have to leave every day [after the match] because we are playing [at] four different venues. It’s unfair. The flight we took from Florida, from Miami, we had to wait like eight hours in the airport to get the flight. And we came around. We were supposed to leave at 8 pm but we got the flight at 5 am. It’s really unfair for us, but it doesn’t matter when you play [on the field].”
Among the 20 teams, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands are the only two playing their first-round matches at four different venues. Theekshana revealed that they had to cancel their training session due to travel exhaustion and were compelled to wake up at 5 am to reach the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium for their match against South Africa.
“Yeah, that’s why. Because even from the hotel, it’s one hour and 40 minutes. Even today [match day], we had to wake up around 5 am to come here,” Theekshana said.
Theekshana was also questioned about what schedule would have been considered equitable for Sri Lanka.
“I can’t say the [names of the] teams that are playing in the same venue, so they know what the conditions are like. They’re playing practice games at the same venue. No one will get that. We played the practice games in Florida and our third game is in Florida. There are some things that I think that everyone will rethink about next year because I know that this year, nothing will change. Our management is trying to fix today’s flight also because we are playing, we have to pack everything and [leave],” he stated.
In the post-match press conference, Hasaranga shared his perspective on whether logistical challenges affected their performance against South Africa.
“We can’t say that. We had a tough time the last few days. All four games in four venues. It’s hard. We didn’t know [anything about the conditions here]. This is our first game in New York. Next game in Dallas, we don’t know [anything about the conditions there]. The next game is in Florida where we played two games, that’s the only plus point we have,” he said.
Following their dismissal for 77 runs against South Africa, Sri Lanka aims to secure a victory in their next match against Bangladesh to remain in contention for the Super Six stage.
