Dasun Shanaka insists he does not look for alibis, yet the nature of the surface keeps cropping up whenever Sri Lanka’s batting unravels. Three defeats to England last month, totals that never stretched 140, and another wave of dissection about why the middle order stalls on home soil.
“For years we’ve been told Sri Lanka should lean on spin,” one coach familiar with the set-up said on Monday. “That has worked in Tests, much less so in T20s.” The numbers back him up. Since the start of 2024 Sri Lanka have lost 13 and won nine T20Is at home, despite fielding some of the most skilful slow bowlers in the format.
Shanaka, who contributed 20 off 16, 1 and 4 against England, is not hiding from his own returns, yet he believes conditions are exaggerating individual flaws. “I think in this World Cup the ICC has told the groundstaff that they have to leave a certain amount of grass on the pitch,” Shanaka said. “Because of that, I think the number of dismissals will fall. Eventually, I’d like to get a good track on which to show how I can bat, because it’s harder to showcase my striking ability on turning wickets. Lots of people see me negatively because of this.”
There is, in fact, no ICC regulation demanding a set length of grass—only the usual reminder that global events should promote “good cricket”, code for pitches with carry and a fair contest between bat and ball. That still sounds like a luxury to Shanaka, whose own boards have prepared surfaces that break up inside ten overs.
“Recently, we’ve had a lot of issues with the pitches,” Shanaka said. “I know the middle order hasn’t performed well. If you want to know why that happened, you should look at the kind of pitches we played on. You’ll be able to figure out why the strike rates are low and we’re losing wickets.”
His predecessors made the same plea. Charith Asalanka and Wanindu Hasaranga both asked for “flatter decks”, only to watch the practice nets dust up before a ball was bowled. The argument was simple: turning tracks helped the ODI side take down stronger opponents. Transplant that logic to T20, and totals stagnated.
“I was only recently reappointed as the captain. I didn’t know what the plan was before that. In my opinion I’d like to play on flat tracks. Yes, we have some good spinners in our side, but at the same time other teams also have quality spinners. I think giving 50-50 wickets will help in future. I’d like to bat on flat tracks.”
The gulf becomes stark once you cross the Palk Strait. Since 2020, the average T20I strike-rate in India sits at 143, the highest in the world. Sri Lanka’s equivalent is 123. A twenty-point deficit may not sound catastrophic, yet over 20 overs that can translate to a 30-40 run shortfall.
“If you look at India you will see how good the pitches they play on are,” Shanaka said. “Some people have a problem with India scoring so many runs and ask why Sri Lanka can’t do the same. It totally depends on conditions. You’ll be able to assess what the numbers in the World Cup are and what the previous numbers were. I think this will be a good tou”
His sentence tailed off mid-thought, a fair reflection of how often conversations about Sri Lanka’s batting drift into talk of grass, clay and what might have been. Soon enough the squad will have to move from theory to practice on Australian and New Zealand strips expected to offer more pace.
The captain is not promising miracles, just a truer examination of what his batters can do. If they fail on better surfaces, the excuses—or explanations—will have to move elsewhere.
