Sri Lanka’s success at the Asia Cup after a stuttering start underlines the potential the current group has to upstage cricket’s established powers.
Prior to the tournament, the talk was all about the potential for three clashes between India and Pakistan with the third anticipated to come in the final.
However, India were stunned by Sri Lanka having split their two meetings with Pakistan and missed out on the final altogether.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka met in a dead rubber Super 4s match and Pakistan missed an opportunity to remind Sri Lanka of their power as a team noticeably off the pace gave up the impetus.
A team can live or die on their approach to the game and it was Sri Lanka who made the most of the tournament atmosphere and the format to propel themselves to victory.
At the T20 World Cup they will have another chance to use the format to their benefit as they will have to play in the preliminary round of the tournament.
While the round will not be without potential pitfalls it offers Sri Lanka a chance to bed into Australian conditions and find match-winning form before they have to meet any of the top contenders.
Namibia, the Netherlands and the UAE are all sides that could upset a team who aren’t entirely focused on their task at hand but with the quality Sri Lanka have displayed in T20 cricket of late they should be the favourites to top their group.
Topping the group will arguably plunge Sri Lanka into the tougher of the two groups considering the conditions in Australia.
The winners of Sri Lanka’s qualifying Group A will enter a Super 12s group alongside England, Australia, New Zealand and Afghanistan as well as the runners-up of the other group.
That being said, if this Sri Lanka team gains confidence they could be very dangerous even against the top sides.
Their spin weapons give them tremendous utility, but it remains to be seen if their batters can translate success in Asia to Australian climes.
