(10-09-2021, 05:16 PM)LankaFan Wrote:(10-09-2021, 04:26 PM)Pram Wrote: I actually started to think of your point before you wrote it here. Our guys are purposely letting this Oman team to score runs, so that they could practice run chasing with this batting lineup. << BTW I never said this. This is a not a smart strategy.
Didn't you say something like this is a T20 match (without international status)? I thought, in that post you meant we may not be taking this match seriously to win, but to practice certain aspects of the team.
Your point on Theekshana not bowling well, is not true. He is bowling better than Akila who had lot of international experience and also did poorly in the SLC Invitational tournament. If we did not try out Pulina, who did really well in the local tournament, we would never discover good players to play international matches. That mindset is very negative, even PJ has that negative mindset where you are afraid to go for new players, but wants to rely on experienced way too much, even when they are failing over and over again. YES, if we had A-team matches to try out them, I would have preferred that way. But, these matches are more like A-team matches, so since Pulina is already in the WC squad, we should have given him at least this 2nd match against Oman. That way, come the 2 practice games against Group - B sides, we will know which players to continue with. Now if we lose this match, with Akila getting hammered and Binura not bowling his full quota, we are at ground ZERO in terms of selections on the day we have to submit the final 15 man squad to ICC.
What I meant was giving match practice to key players. Not letting them score intentionally to set a higher target - that would just hurt confidence of the bowler and achieves us nothing.
If we did not try out Pulina, who did really well in the local tournament, we would never discover good players to play international matches << not the time to do this. We are already trying Maheesh.
BTW squads will only be finalized tomorrow.
I'm not saying we should have Akila in the XI. But he deserved to bowl more in these two games for selectors to have a fair assessment. I don't think he'll make the XI now.