Wanindu innings embodies Sri Lanka’s spirit – Theekshana

The 21-year-old mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana is making headlines here at the World Cup after he completed his second three-wicket haul in successive matches to help Sri Lanka secure a place in the Super 12.

Against Namibia, the rookie spinner claimed 3 for 25 to be adjudged manof-the-match and finished with excellent figures of 3 for 17 as Sri Lanka crushed Ireland by 70 runs in the second group game. Sri Lanka heads to Sharjah for their last group game against Netherlands today, hoping to make it three-in-a-row to top Group A.

Playing his first World Cup, the young lad is delighted with how they went about it in the first two games. Giving lots of credit to Mahela Jayawardena, consultant coach for the first-round leg of the World Cup, Theekshana says the players are yearning for success.

“When we came here, we were under lots of pressure, having to qualify for the tournament proper, even though we are a good side,” said Theekshana, at the post-match press conference.

“The players have started to believe in their abilities and they now back them to perform well,” he said. “If you look at Wednesday’s game, we were 3 down for 8 runs, but Wanindu (Hasaranga) changed the whole complexion of the game. This shows the spirit with which we play now. Our focus is to win the last group game and move on to the next round.”

When Sri Lanka were 8 for 3 in the second over of the match, they took the Irish players by surprise by promoting Hasaranga up the order to take advantage of the powerplay overs. The move was orchestrated by

Jayawardena who has given Wanindu a floating role in the team. This paid off well as he and Pathum Nissanka flattened the Irish bowlers with some scintillating shot-making.

“We had made our plans. Wanindu was our trump card as he can bat anywhere in the batting order. He did that job well,” said Theekshana, who is the joint leading wicket-taker in the tournament (six scalps) with Mustafizer Rahman of Bangladesh.

Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie admitted that they were caught off-guard by Hasaranga’s onslaught.

“He obviously took us a bit by surprise by coming in, and look, I thought he played really well. We obviously set fields that we’ve backed over a couple of years, and he kind of countered that and maybe caught us in the hop a bit, but that’s what happens when you play against world-class cricketers. They can do that to you,” the Irish skipper said.

Along with many others, Theekshana is impressed by the contribution made by Jayawardena, one of the most soughtafter coaches in franchise cricket.

“There’s a huge difference since he came in,” he asserted. “As you can see, there’s lots of positive energy among players because, the way he speaks, he gives lots of confidence to the players. He doesn’t talk much about the technical things but gives us insight into handling situations.”

Meanwhile, team sources confirmed that Charith Asalanka will come into the side in place of Dinesh Chandimal who is going through a bad patch — the only change they expect as Sri Lanka play their last group game against Netherlands today.