World T20: Unsettled Lanka look to get act together against Afghanistan

KOLKATA: It's not often that defending champions enter a tournament as underdogs. Given their woeful form of late, the Sri Lankans have a job on their hands as they look to shake off that tag in the

ICC WT20

tournament. Runners-up in 2009 and 2012,

Sri Lanka

have won just four of their 14 matches since they beat India in the final to win the 2014 edition in Mirpur, Bangladesh.

The worry part is that Sri Lanka have failed to arrest the slide. In the run-up to this mega event, they have suffered series defeats in New Zealand and India and cut a sorry figure in the Asia Cup. There has been no change in their fortunes in the warm-up games too, losing to New Zealand and Pakistan.

Sri Lanka will, no doubt, look to shed some of that baggage by launching their WT20 campaign on a positive note with a win over minnows Afghanistan here on Thursday. To do that, Sri Lanka must first sort out their playing XI. The team management is still sweating over Lasith Malinga's fitness. The star pacer, who has been nursing a knee injury since December, returned to lead the side in the Asia Cup, but broke down after a match-winning display against the UAE.


Malinga, who has 38 wickets in 31 WT20 matches, was seen bowling off a short run-up at the nets on Wednesday, but remains a doubtful starter for Thursday's match. "He will bowl with full run-up at the nets tomorrow. We will take a call on him after that," skipper Angelo Mathews said. In case Malinga misses out, the onus will be on veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath to lead the Sri Lankan attack on spin-friendly Indian conditions.
Afghanistan, the only ICC Associate Member in the Super 10s, will be no pushovers, though. Incidentally, this is Afghanistan's fourth straight appearance at the WT20, but they are yet to register a win over any Full Member in ICC flagship events.

Having qualified the hard way, Afghanistan will certainly fancy their chances against an unsettled Sri Lankan team. The closest Afghanistan came to upsetting Sri Lanka was in the 2015 World Cup (50 overs). They had the match under control before Mahela Jayawardene bailed Lanka out.