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With Sri Lanka winning the Asia Cup Super Four match against Bangladesh, batter Sadeera Samarawickrama said the team is playing well to stay undefeated for 13 successive ODI matches and a players performance is lifted to another level if the team is playing well as a unit.
Maheesh Theekshana's spin and skipper Dasun Shanaka's spell allowed Sri Lanka to comfortably claim the second-longest ODI win streak in their Asia Cup Super Four triumph against Bangladesh on Saturday. Sri Lanka won by 21 runs. Sri Lanka have now won 13 ODIs in a row behind Australia which won 21 matches between January and May in 2003. Sri Lanka have not lost a ODI match since June this year "When you play as a team, your own performances are lifted," Samarawickrama said, according to ESPNCricinfo. "If we had lost, my performance today would not be highlighted either. If the top order is not doing well, the middle order gets it done. If the middle order cannot do it, the top order has scored runs. We are playing as a team," he added. Samarawickrama scored a brilliant 93 runs which earned him the 'Player of the Match' award in the match against Bangladesh. During his knock, he shuffled a lot towards the off stump to get access to the leg side and backed away to the leg to hit through off, often behind point. These skills he used during the Lanka Premier League (LPL) last year, in which he made 294 runs at a strike rate of 131.25. This tournament helped him make his case strong as an international player, especially in white-ball cricket. The batter made his debut in 2017 at the international level but this year, played ODIs after four years. "Moving around the crease is something that I started in the LPL last year - playing with the bowler's mind and figuring out how to put pressure on him. However the pitch plays, I have to back my strengths, one of which is to back away and hit. It is something I learned with a lot of hard work, so I back myself to do that," said the batter. (ANI)
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