Aravinda de Silva says Matthews-Chandimal pair hold the key for Lanka in WC 2019

Part of the World-Cup winning squad for Sri Lanka in 1996, Aravinda De Silva, reckons the experienced pair of Angelo Matthews and Dinesh Chandimal hold the key in the upcoming world cup.

The Sri Lankan stalwart tagged injury-plagued Angelo Matthews as one of the most capable allrounders in the side. De Silva believes Matthews’ vast experience in the current side is insurmountable.

Post Sri Lanka’s humiliating loss to Bangladesh last year at home, Matthews decided to give up captaincy. Since then, Dinesh Chandimal took over as the captain of the Sri Lankan side.

“I think Angelo is probably the most capable allrounder of the side and also has a good cricketing brain along with Chandimal. It doesn’t matter (if) you are captain or a normal player as you put in the same kind of effort,” commented Aravinda de Silva according to AFP.

Since the 9-nil drubbing at the hands of the Indians back in August last year, Sri Lankan cricket witnessed a massive turnaround. They remained unbeaten in all formats of the game in the year 2018 until the recent Tri-series knock out.

“I think they are playing better cricket now. I hope with a little more exposure and experience they will start doing well as a young new team,” De Silva said.

SLC recently hired Chandika Hathurusingha for the role of head coach. The Sri Lankan legend terms Hathurusingha as the best prospect for the island nation due to the non-existent cultural barrier.

“He is probably the best… plainly because of the fact that he can relate to the players far better and the players can also relate to him. There is no language or a culture barrier and… it helps because they can voice their opinion,” suggested the man with over 15,000 international runs for Lanka.

On Kusal Perera

The recent success of Lanka has been buoyed by the performances of Kusal Perera who displayed glimpses of their talismanic opener Sanath Jayasuriya.

De Silva asserted the fact that Kusal makes a rigid case for himself even in the Test side with his free-flowing attacking style of play.

“I see a lot of Sanath (Jayasuriya) in him. It is a crime to leave a guy like him out of the Test team. Attacking cricket is always good. Also, I think T20 has enhanced the repertoire of strokeplay,” concluded Aravinda de Silva.

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