Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has called for a major rethink of the national team’s T20 batting lineup following their 3-0 series defeat to England, saying the team must develop a powerful top six capable of competing with the world’s leading sides.
Speaking during the post-match discussion following England’s victory in the third T20I, Sangakkara said the series had exposed the considerable gap between Sri Lanka and the world’s leading teams.
“I think what’s starkly obvious is the chasm between the top two to three sides and the rest,” Sangakkara said.
He said Sri Lanka could remain competitive against teams outside the leading group but needed significant improvements to challenge the world’s top four.
Sangakkara identified the batting lineup as the team’s biggest concern, particularly its inability to sustain momentum through the middle overs.
“The real crux of the issue is how is Sri Lanka going to get and assemble a powerhouse top six of batters that can dominate the powerplay,” he said.
He noted that Sri Lanka’s powerplay performances had improved in the final two matches but that the batting continued to collapse during the middle overs, describing it as a long-standing weakness.
Discussing possible changes to the lineup, Sangakkara said selectors would need to make a decision between Kamil Mishara and Lahiru Udara when Kusal Mendis returns.
He also highlighted the importance of Dasun Shanaka’s power-hitting in the middle order and described Kamindu Mendis as a very good player.
While acknowledging that Sri Lanka possessed a reasonably strong bowling attack, Sangakkara said the priority should be identifying and developing batters suited to the demands of modern T20 cricket.
He suggested that a heavy defeat could make the scale of the required improvements more apparent.
Turning to the upcoming ODI series, Sangakkara expressed hope that Sri Lanka would learn from their T20 performances and approach the 50-over format with a winning mentality.
He called for consistency in selection, confidence in established players and a clear strategy.
“Get the side right, give them the confidence, back your best players, have a consistent policy in terms of who you put out on the park and then give them the license to play,” he said.
Sangakkara acknowledged that rebuilding Sri Lanka’s limited-overs team would take time but stressed that the necessary foundations must be established immediately.
“The journey for Sri Lanka is going to be a slow, long one, but they need to put those things in place now,” he said. (Newswire)