The Sri Lanka Cricket team will play three qualifying round matches in Australia which will give them a chance to adjust to the conditions before the main tournament in the Twenty20 World Cup said Sri Lankan veteran journalist and chief cricket selector of Àbu Dhabi Amith Passela in an exclusive interview with the Daily News.
After Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup in Dubai Passela reviewed the performance of Sri Lanka Cricket team said they are in good shape to take up the challenge in Australia but conditions are different in Australia and most important thing is to adjust to the conditions.Actually when Sri Lanka team started their Asia Cup matches they lost to Afghanistan in their opening game in Dubai.But they came back strongly to win all other matches to win the title for the sixth time .I have much experience in covering International matches in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi but my point is Sri Lankan team appoach was very good for the Asia Cup cricket tournament and it gives confidence for them to play the forthcoming World T-20 cricket tournament in Australia.
I think at the moment Sri Lanka white ball team is playing to their full potential and the way they are playing at this level they can give a good challenge at the T- 20 world cup.I met former Sri Lanka cricketer Charith Senanayake who was the Asia Cup tournament chairman Technical Committee who was my club mate at CH& FC and I am proud about him .He is the present Sri Lanka ‘A’ cricket team manager having vast knowledge of cricket.I had an opportunity to chat with him as he knew the set up of Sri Lanka Cricket. We have talented players and few of them are world class.
Wanindu Hasaranga proved he is the best T-20 spinner at the Asia Cup and he was finally adjudged player of the series and his all round performance is very high in the T-20 format while mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana is also outstanding.Playing more franchise cricket helps them to get more experience and that is an advantage for the Sri Lanka team.The hard hitting stroke player Bhanuka Rajapaksa has good shot selection and that also strengthens the Sri Lankan batting department.Those days we saw talent like Arjuna Ranathunga and Aravinda de Silva and their experience paved the way for Sri Lankas success.When the team played the game they used to do plan A,B and C .Sri Lanka team did everything and that worked out very well and the leadership of Dasun Shanaka was outstanding and team commitment always very high .That is the success story of Sri Lanka team said veteran journalist Amith Passela .
I have worked more than 30 years as a sports journalist at the National newspaper in Abu Dhabi.Apart from that I introduced junior cricket in Abu Dhabi and presently I am the chief selector of the junior cricket in Abu Dhabi.Here in Abu Dhabi we are playing under 15,17.19 cricket and National league cricket tournament while last year we reached the T- 10 cricket semi final as well as T- 20 final.Apart from that I am an ACC level two cricket coach guiding the juniors . I studied at Carey College in Colombo and took part in Boxing,Judo, Swimming, Athletics, Rugby and Hockey and after leaving school I was a member of Havelocks Bambaras team and also was a member of the CH and FC hockey team and played division two cricket.Playing sports at school level and Club level paved the way to become a sports journalist at Daily Mirror and then moved to Abu Dhabi to join the National Newspaper where I am working upto now.
I always enjoy my career as a sports journalist having covered Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Cricket World Cups and presently football and Horse racing which is very popular in Abu Dhabi said Amith Passela.
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