Ahead of the opening match of Sri Lanka in T20 World Cup 20240 against South Africa on June 3 in New York at the newly built Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, Indian commentator Aakash Chopra deemed the Sri Lankan team as very competent due to their extensive bowling line-up.
"The Sri Lankan team is very competent. Their bowling attack is outstanding - Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana. Then Angelo Mathews is bowling well and they have Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka and Nuwan Thushara," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Matthews, in the shorter format, will be playing for Sri Lanka after three years and the veteran all-rounder has represented his national team in six T20 World Cups including the 2014 T20 World Cup in which the Lankans stood victorious.
Moreover, Chopra was all praise for the Sri Lankan bowlers and predicted that they would do well on New York pitches.
"They have got a phenomenal bowling attack. Considering the pitch that was seen in the first match, the friendly between India and Bangladesh, I feel their bowling will do well," the commentator added.
However, Chopra was not confident with the performance of Sri Lankan batters. The squad includes the former T20I captain of Sri Lanka Dasun Shanaka and current ODI captain Kusal Mendis as well as Matthews who is a handy batter when his team requires him to be.
"They could have slight problems in batting - Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, and Charith Asalanka - how they will play? Then Dhananjaya de Silva, they will again expect batting from Angelo Mathews, and Dasun Shanaka. The batting is looking 50-50 but their bowling is looking good to me," Chopra added in the video.
As the match between South Africa and Sri Lanka approaches, Chopra concluded that it will be a game between Sri Lankan bowling and South Africa’s batting.
"Sri Lanka's bowling and South Africa's batting will be the contest to watch out for. Players in focus - Pathum Nissanka because the ball will swing, Angelo Mathews who is doing well as an all-rounder, and then Wanindu Hasaranga/Pathirana. It will be very interesting to see how they perform," he said.
It should be noted that India and Bangladesh played a warm-up game at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Saturday and the Indian head coach revealed the ground to be sandy and expressed injury concerns for players.
- Aakash Chopra
