Sri Lanka cricket team displayed a terrific brand of cricket to win the Asia Cup 2022 title, throwing away all the predictions out of the window. The title win is surely expected to provide them with a much-needed confidence ahead of the 2022 T20 World Cup staring next month in Australia.
Batting legend and former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene openes up on his nation’s prospects of clinching the world cup.
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Jayawardene feels that Sri Lanka cricket should now be solely focusing on the T20 World Cup.
“If they take the confidence of what they achieved in the last (T20) World Cup and then now at the Asia Cup, I think they shouldn’t be looking at anything other than going all the way and winning the World Cup," Jayawardene said on The ICC Review.
Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup campaign though began on the wrong note. The Dasun Shanaka-led side had to endure a shocking eight-wicket defeat against Afghanistan in their opening match.
However, they scripted a remarkable turnaround and claimed five back-to-back victories to win the continental title for the sixth time in their history.
In the summit clash, they outclassed Pakistan by 23 runs. Wanindu Hasaranga displayed a brilliant all-around show in the final and took player-of-the-series award. He scored 36 runs in the final and also scalped three crucial wickets.
Overall, Hasaranga had picked up nine wickets at the Asia Cup and emerged as the second-highest wicket-taker. In batting, Sri Lanka’s Bhanuka Rajapaksa became the fourth-highest run scorer after bagging 191 runs at the continental event.
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But Jayawardene does not talk about individual brilliance. He rather stated that the Asia Cup triumph was an outcome of an outstanding team effort.
“They were knocking on the door. Just they needed that confidence I think. You know once they got that, they just played some brilliant cricket. I think there were no superstars, it was a team effort. Everyone chipped in," the 45-year-old explained.
Sri Lanka will take part in two practice matches ahead of the T20 World Cup. They will be up against Namibia in their opening match of the T20 World Cup qualifiers scheduled to be played on October 16.
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