T20 World Cup 2021 | Adversity has brought a lot of good for the team as we have found players who can fit in, says Mickey Arthur.

10/18/2021

Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur has said that the team has found players who can fit in despite facing adversities this year. The team has gone through some off-field dramas after three players were banned for one year for breaking biosecurity protocols and players threatening to go on strike.

Sri Lanka will be fighting to book a spot in the Super 12 round as they find themselves out of the top eight in the ICC T20I rankings on the qualification deadline. They are slotted alongside Ireland, Netherlands, and Namibia in Group A. The team has the services of several experienced ex-cricketers in the coaching staff such as Grant Flower (Batting Coach) and Mahela Jayawardene (Mentor). Arthur told Cricbuzz that the ban of Niroshan Dickwella, Danushka Gunathilaka, and Kusal Mendis have opened the doors for young players in the team.

“It's been tough. This is the one format that needed the most work for us and then once we lost those three players, it was almost back to the drawing boards again. But out of adversity comes a lot of good. We've found some young players that can fit in. Charith Asalanka... Bhanuka Rajapaksa has come back, Pathum Nissanka has come back into the team. So some good has come. It's given the guys an opportunity to show what they can do, to stand up," Arthur told Cricbuzz.

"I'm pretty clear where we are in terms of Tests and ODI cricket. We sort of got those covered now. It was Twenty20 cricket that was the format that required the most amount of work and we're getting there. The Test team is taken care of, our ODI team has gotten better and better. Our T20 team is what we needed to nail and it's taken a lot of work, we've looked at a lot of combinations and we're comfortable now that we have quite a nice mix,” he added.

Arthur was asked about how the team is feeling to which he said that the team is feeling good and everybody knows their roles.

“The feeling is good. We've been together for quite a while now. We've been working hard and we clearly know the roles, guys know how they fit in. We've been working those roles, training those roles and it's a great bunch of guys. They are really close and there's a good spirit at the moment. We've played some good cricket in our warm-up phases here and let's hope we go from strength to strength now,” Arthur said.

Sri Lanka will begin their campaign against Namibia on Monday, October 18.