Dashing opener Kusal Perera who hit an aggressive 66 off 38 balls in Sri Lanka’s unsuccessful run chase against West Indies in the first T20I at Pallekele International Stadium on Wednesday believes the only way to overcome the pace of Oshane Thomas is to take calculated risks and attack him.
Thomas blew away the Lankan top order with a career best spell capturing five wickets for 28 runs in three overs as Sri Lanka chasing West Indies’ total of 196-4 fell short by 25 runs to trail the two-match series 0-1.
The second match of the series is today at the same venue and Sri Lanka need to win it if they are to avoid another T20I series defeat under the captaincy of Lasith Malinga.
“Of course Thomas did the damage in the second over where he took three wickets. In the power play if someone takes three or four wickets, the game is gone. He is quick but not the quickest we have faced. It bounced a lot here that was the issue that we had. We have to manage him. We have to dominate him,” said Perera.
“When you take batting, you cannot be successful all the days. You can play seven batsmen but only three players will dominate. Our batters all of them got out in the same fashion and we need to find out ways of how to play him. We got it wrong in our power plays. That is one area we need to fix. We need to put that right and win the next game,” he said.
Perera said that the bowlers did a decent job to keep West Indies under 200 and had they got one more partnership going they could have won the game.
Perera and Wanindu Hasaranga brought Sri Lanka to a point from turning the game around on its head with a partnership of 87 after they had lost the first five wickets for 56 runs.
“We had a chance (50 runs needed off the last 5 overs). Wanindu and I in the middle overs we tried to get to 150 or 160 and we knew with Thisara (Perera) and Isuru (Udana) to come, we were only four or five hits away. So we did try to get closer,” said Perera.
“In T-20 cricket 200 runs is gettable. You cannot be afraid of losing. If you need to win a game, you have to attack. That is the way you are going to win a T-20 game.
“We have a decent squad. West Indies are an experienced side. They play lot of T-20 cricket. We lacked a bit of experience. We had a good ODI series. T-20s we don’t have a good record. Glad fans are supporting us. Hope they will continue to back us. Our T-20 team has lacked confidence and I request fans to support the players,” said Perera who had a lean ODI series scoring 86 runs in three innings but regained his batting form soon after getting married ahead of the T20I series. – ST
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