T20 World Cup 2022: What went wrong for Asia Cup winners Sri Lanka?

The win was unexpected and powered by new head coach Chris Silverwood’s tactical flexibility.

That ability to be greater than the sum of their parts served them very well – and even led to a situation where they could rely on someone or the other to do the job for them. 

However, it all came crashing down in the T20 World Cup. The defending champions of the Asia Cup are out of the tournament. But how did this come to pass? 

Firstly, Sri Lanka was always in a quandary coming into the tournament. Ace fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera and batter Danushka Gunathilaka were ruled out of the Cup. Dushmantha Chameera was one of their in-form bowlers and the loss got reflected in the power play. Bhanuka Rajapaksa is another star batter and finisher that did not make any big impact during the crucial moments.

Indeed, it is why they found themselves playing in the qualifying round to make it to the Super 12s rather than getting direct entry into that round. 

And even the qualifying round exposed their weaknesses. They lost their first game to Namibia before bouncing back with back-to-back wins over the UAE and the Netherlands to make it to the Super 12s. 

However, despite starting that round with a win over Ireland, they failed to win against the teams that mattered the most. 

They lost to Australia, New Zealand, and England – the first two matches being by significant margins, the last game that could have gone either way but in which the Sri Lankans were always underdogs. 

Yet the World Cup exposed that despite their status as Asia champions, Sri Lanka is still a work in progress as a team. Nowhere was this more evident than in their batting. 

Indeed, in every one of their big games, the batting suffered from a collapse. Against Australia, they got to 157 but lost six wickets, and their best score came from Pathum Nissanka. 

His contribution? 40 runs – off 45 balls! A strike rate of 88.89 is never enough in a T20I match unless you’re chasing a low target. Australia would chase down the target in 16.3 overs. 

The New Zealand match was even worse. Set 168 to win, they slumped to 102 all out – with only Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s 34 off 22 balls and Dasun Shanaka’s 35 off 32 balls saving them from an even worse fate, given everyone else scored in single digits. 

Even against England, they managed only 141-8 despite Pathum Nissanka’s 45-ball 67, thanks in no small part to the middle order collapsing again. 

The bowling unit generally kept them in matches and arguably pulled their weight. But Sri Lanka was let down by the batting.

What happens going forward is anyone’s guess. Maybe the team decides to stick with the same players or tries to inject some new blood into a tired batting line-up. 

Either way, something will have to change for Sri Lanka if they are to take that next step as a team to be feared around the world.