Asia Cup 2022 | India's body language and mindset is to beat any country on the international stage, claims Dasun Shanaka

09/06/2022

Dasun Shanaka has spoken highly of upcoming opponents India ahead of the Asia Cup encounter, stating they house a host of experienced players with winning mindsets who have been performing well. Nevertheless, he expressed confidence in his men, revealing they will be aiming to play positive cricket.

India are all set to take on Sri Lanka in a crucial encounter at the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday in the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup. The Men in Blue will be going into the fixture as firm favourites given the quality they possess and a run of 18 victories in 23 T20Is this year. Moreover, when the two sides had faced off in a three-match bilateral series earlier this year, India clean swept the Lions courtesy of victories by margins of 62 runs, seven wickets, and six wickets.

Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka did not shy away from acknowledging the tremendous potential of the subcontinental side, given the years of development they carry from playing in the Indian Premier League thus brimming with experience and a positive mindset. However, he refused to discount his team from the equation, expressing keenness for the exciting clash.

“It doesn’t matter who comes from the Indian side. They come with a lot of experience playing IPL games around the world. Their body language and mindset is to beat any of the countries on the international stage. Likewise, we are well prepared and looking forward to it,” he was quoted saying to the reporters by AFP.

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The match might prove to be decisive for India in the tournament as they are returning from a five-wicket loss against Pakistan. Another defeat is likely to end their hopes of making it to the final regardless of the result in their final Super Four fixture. Nevertheless, Shanaka believes India won't be under any pressure owing to the circumstances given they played a good brand of cricket on Sunday and took the game right down to the penultimate ball albeit it ended up negatively for them.

“I think they had a very good game last night. There is nothing called under pressure at the moment because they are playing very good cricket,” he said.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will be brimming with confidence having avenged the group stage loss to Afghanistan with a flamboyant 4-wicket victory in the latest encounter. Even though the Afghans seemed on top for most of the game, a late blitz from the Lankan batsmen ensured they chased down the commendable target of 176 with five balls to spare.

“Our approach will the same like other games, playing in a positive manner,” Shanaka concluded.