Sri Lanka has not yet announced its World Cup squad, and the fitness of star players like Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera remains a concern. The emergence of young talents like Matheesha Pathirana, Dunith Wellalage, and Sadeera Samarawickrama adds intrigue to the final squad selection. The squad is expected to be revealed soon, and Sri Lanka aims to build on its promising Asia Cup campaign with a strong World Cup performance.

India’s departure is almost inevitable. However, on paper, Rohit Sharma’s team still has a chance.

Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka has shown all-around performance. After taking 2 wickets in 2 overs with the ball, he played an unbeaten inning of 33 runs in 18 balls with the bat. For this reason, the man of the match award has been in his hands.

In response to such a great win, Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka said, “This win has increased the boys’ confidence in the dressing room. Today, the team’s batsmen won us. Pathum and Kushal started it off brilliantly and Rajapaksa and I finished. The bowlers also bowled well. But not throughout the match. I want to give credit to Dilshan and Thiksana. They bowled well. The Indian batsmen tried to play aggressive cricket from the start. But they did well (stopped it). We were able to restrict them to 173 runs. ’

“After the first game, we discussed the importance of (this match). We know what we can do. We discussed losing the first game. We told ourselves that we can win the Asia Cup. The team’s cricketers believed in themselves. I’m getting its results.

Talking about bowling just two overs, Shanaka said, “It’s actually because of the team combination. So I didn’t meet my bowling quota. I have to decide what’s best for the team. ’

Shanaka said, “There is no world-class bowler in Bangladesh except Mustafiz and Shaki, so Bangladesh match will be easier compared to Afghanistan.” Tiger all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz responded a day after Shanaka’s explosive comments by humiliating Bangladesh.
In the official press conference before the start of practice in Dubai today, Miraz said, “No comment, the evidence will be on the field.”

In this regard, Miraz said, “It will be proved on the field whether it is good or bad. You see, when a good team plays badly, they lose the match, and when a bad team plays well, they win the match, this is normal. I don’t want to say they are good, they are bad. All fields will prove. If we play good cricket then everyone will know that we are playing well, so it is important to play good cricket on the field without saying anything beforehand.’

Sri Lanka’s back is against the wall with a miserable loss. They have also fallen behind in net run rate. Now, even if they win the last match of the group stage, they are not guaranteed to play in the Super Four. So their match against Bangladesh will be a life-and-death fight. Meanwhile, today in Sharjah at 8 pm Bangladesh time, Bangladesh will take the field against Afghanistan, who won the first match on the field.

Although not a life-or-death match, Miraz is given importance as the first match of the tournament. He said, “The important match of a tournament is the first match. The first match will tell you how far you will go in the tournament, which is why the first match is so important. We will try to win the first match to advance.”

Not with one or two performances; Miraz thinks it is possible to win with the overall performance of the team. The spin-all-rounder said, ‘Bangladesh team plays well when everyone performs together. The batter has to score runs, the bowler has to bowl well. Fielding should also be done well. Moreover, one or two players can never win a match in such a tournament. Everyone should play well as a team.’

Sri Lanka needed 59 runs from the last three overs against Australia. At that time, they lost 6 wickets. He had only 4 wickets in hand. But from the 16th over, Dasun Shanaka and Chamika Karunaratne started stormy batting together. The two Lankans made 22 runs in that over by Joss Hazelwood. They then scored 18 runs in the 19th over the bowl by Jhye Richardson. They had to score 19 runs in the last over.

Richardson came to bowl in the last over. He gives the first two deliveries wide. The next two balls gave 1 run. But Shanaka hit two consecutive fours off his third, and fourth ball, and a six off the fifth ball. As a result, Sri Lanka needed just one run off the last ball. Which they were able to pick up.

Dasun Shanaka, the hero of the win, played just 25 balls and scored 54 runs.

Earlier in the match, touring Australia batted first and scored 176 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. Opener David Warner top-scored for Australia with 39 runs. The second highest score of 38 came from the bat of Marcus Stoinis.

Maheesh Theekshana took the maximum two wickets for 25 runs for Sri Lanka. Josh Hazlewood and Marcus Stones took two wickets each for Australia.

With Australia winning the first two matches of the series, the series ended 2-1.