Rain Washes Out Sri Lanka's World Cup Hopes, Theekshana Admits Team's Struggles
Former Champions Need Miracle Qualification After Dismal Showing, Face Netherlands in Final Group Match
Rain canceled Tuesday's Group D match between Sri Lanka and Nepal in Lauderhill, Florida, putting the reigning champions on the verge of an early departure from the T20 World Cup.
The 2014 winners, who had lost their opening two games to South Africa and Bangladesh, desperately needed a victory to salvage some sort of tournament fate.
With just one point, Wanindu Hasaranga's team is at the bottom of the group and, barring a miracle, looks destined to lose.
Regarding their prospects of moving on, Sri Lankan spinner Maheesh Theekshana remarked, "It's not going to be easy for us and it would be a miracle actually."
On Sunday, they will play the Netherlands to round out their group campaign. Theekshana said that they had not found anything in the 20-team competition.
The off-spinner stated, "We didn't bat well, we didn't assess the conditions really well, and our plans, everything went wrong."
As a squad, we know that the upcoming game won't be easy, but even so, I believe that we didn't perform well in our previous two games. We weren't playing our best cricket.
Therefore, based on our performance in the first two games, I don't think we deserved the slot. Even if I don't think we deserved to be in the Super 8, we'll still give it our all in the final game.
He said he was disappointed with how they had performed. "We were really excited about this World Cup. I am not happy with our team's performance. We practiced effectively as a team; our bowlers and batters were mentally strong and prepared. When it came to this event, we were well-positioned. I believe that as a team, we made a lot of blunders, which prevented us from making it into the Super 8t.
After two games, Nepal is also without a win, and they take on undefeated South Africa on Friday. With three wins in a row, the Proteas are now guaranteed a spot in the Super 8.
If Nepal wins their next two games convincingly against South Africa and Bangladesh and the Netherlands loses their next two games, they still have a chance to qualify.
Coach Monty Desai of Nepal stated, "Obviously we want the sun to shine and have a proper game."
"We are aware that we are entering uncharted territory. We haven't before played in South Africa. However, the camp's morale is high at the same moment.
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