Sri Lanka T20I captain Wanindu Hasaranga has only one concern for his team in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies.
The 2014 Champions are all set to be in action later tonight when they take on South Africa in their opening Group D match. The match will get underway at the Nassau County Stadium in New York. Both the teams have been drawn into a group that also consists of teams like Bangladesh, Netherlands, and Nepal.
Even though the tournament is known for producing unexpected results, Sri Lanka and South Africa remain firm favorites to have a top 2 finish. All eyes will be on Wanindu Hasaranga, who will captain the Lankans for the first time ever in a major ICC event. While he hopes to deliver success in his first time out as the leader, Hasaranga opened up about the team’s challenges in the USA.
What did Wanindu Hasaranga say about Sri Lanka’s challenges?
While speaking to media reporters on the eve of Sri Lanka’s clash against South Africa later today, Wanindu Hasaranga expressed his team’s grievances. The issue of concern is not facing any big team in the tournament that are superior to them but their main issue is the distance between their team hotel and the stadium in New York.
Wanindu Hasaranga said that it takes about 1 and a half hours to reach the venue from their hotel and that is becoming a major issue. He said that they have to come very early on in the morning, approximately by 7:30 PM in the morning just because the hotel is far off. This apparently, is the only concern for team Sri Lanka.
“The only concern is we have to come early to the ground. We had to come at 7.30 in the morning because we were so far from the ground. It will take like one-and-a-half hours to the ground. That’s the only concern we have,” Hasaranga told reporters.
Wanindu Hasaranga then shed light on how well Sri Lanka have prepared for the T20 World Cup. The Lanka captain admitted that his side is very confident about the tournament as they had touched down in the USA 2 weeks prior to the 20-team event and that has given them a lot of time to practice.
Hasaranga also expressed confidence about the playing conditions in New York being similar to that in Sri Lanka.
“First of all, we prepared really well. We came two weeks early to North Carolina, had practice sessions there and we played two practice matches in Florida. I think as a team, we prepared really well and the conditions are similar to Sri Lanka,” Wanindu Hasaranga concluded.
Sri Lanka aiming to reach their first knockout rounds of ICC tournaments after a decade
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankans, when they get to action at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, their main objective will be to reach the knockout rounds of the event. Since winning the competition back in 2014, the Lankans haven’t qualified for any of the following ICC tournaments. The Asia Cup remains the only silverware they have won post-2014.
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