Former Sri Lanka national cricket team captain Aravinda de Silva has expressed his disappointment over the current state of Sri Lankan cricket, saying they have lost their identity and international teams no longer aspire to play like them.
The Sri Lanka national cricket team has not been at its best in recent years and has had serious difficulties competing against the top teams as well as in ICC events. There has been a lot of chaos in Sri Lankan cricket, both on and off the field, resulting in leadership roles being changed several times in a short period of time.
However, the Sri Lankan team recently gave joy to their fans by delivering an exceptional performance in the three-match ODI series at home against the in-form Indian National Cricket Team.
After suffering an embarrassing defeat in the T20I series against the Men In Blue, the Sri Lankan Lions responded and demolished Rohit Sharma and Co. in the ODI series to register a 2-0 win. It was the first time Sri Lanka defeated the Indian team in an ODI series since 1997.
The next challenge for the Islanders is a tough one as they will play a Test series away from home against the England national cricket team, who will be without Ben Stokes. Notably, Stokes has been ruled out of the series due to injury and Ollie Pope has taken over leadership duties.
Speaking ahead of the Test series, Aravinda de Silva spoke about the current generation of Sri Lankan players and highlighted that they lack courage, which was not the case earlier.
Sri Lanka played like no other team in history – Aravinda de Silva
In an interaction with inews.co.uk, the 58-year-old claimed that earlier, Sri Lankan cricketers were so good that other teams would try to emulate their style of cricket, but that is no longer the case.
“Sri Lanka played like no other team in history,” De Silva said.
“We had an identity, people knew the way Sri Lankan cricketers played and teams wanted to emulate that. I don’t think we have that at the moment.”
De Silva, for his part, was extremely pleased to see the style of play of the England national cricket team and said that he enjoys watching the English team play. He also said that beating the Three Lions in their own backyard would be difficult, but not impossible.
“I’m enjoying the way England are playing cricket at the moment. They’re playing very, very attacking cricket, whether it’s bowling or batting, England are taking a really positive approach and it’s paying off. Winning in England is difficult but it’s certainly not impossible,” he added.
Meanwhile, the first Test of the upcoming ENG vs SL series will be played from Wednesday, August 21 in Manchester and the second Test is scheduled to be hosted by Lord’s from Thursday, August 29.
The third and final Test match will be played on Friday, September 6 at The Oval. The Sri Lanka Lions are fresh from winning a Test series in England back in 2014 and will be looking to make history this time around.
