WI vs SL | Takeaways – Avishka Fernando scales new heights and Sri Lanka’s over-reliance on Lasith Malinga

When Avishka Fernando pushed the ball towards long-on for a double, he became the third youngest cricketer to have scored a century in the World Cup. Those who have followed Fernando in this competition knew that it was only a matter of time before the elegant right-handed batsman scripted history with the bat. 

In only his third game of the tournament, Fernando has gained recognition and his style of play has caught several eyes. While banking on solid technique, Fernando’s calculated aggression makes him a force to be reckoned. 

They did beat the tournament favourites England and then get the better of West Indies, a team that arguably entered as favourites in this game. Sri Lanka have developed a knack of creating upsets of late. They beat India in the 2017 Champions Trophy but have been cold more often than not ever since that win. Their path as a team keeps oscillating between a series of mediocrity and occasional sparks of brilliance. 

In all three matches that Sri Lanka won in this tournament, Lasith Malinga had a crucial role to play. In fact, one wouldn’t be wrong in saying that three victories would have been impossible to achieve had Malinga not peform the way he did. 

Malinga set the stage beautifully but lacked enough support from his peers. He almost won them the game in the death overs by outfoxing the centurion Pooran on 108, but a horrible misjudgement at the boundary line by Thisara Perera not only gave Pooran a reprieve but also four bonus runs. Malinga may not look like the bowler he used to be, but has been very effective nevertheless. 

Things have been spoken very highly about the southpaw and many have seen few sparks of what is in the store but today, Pooran justified the big talks and lived up to expectations when the chips were down. He might have failed to take his team over the line but did more than enough to lead West Indies’ fight back. In fact, he targeted the right bowler, and was unlucky in not being able to pull it off.  

West Indies as a unit will be undoubtedly strengthened by the likes of Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer. In fact, just like Sri lanka, West Indies too are going through a rebuilding phase but are way ahead of them. In this tournament so far, Pooran kept getting starts but failed to convert with his highest score being 63. His maiden century will infuse plethora of self-belief and the confidence to stitch such kind of big innings on a consistent basis.