T20 World Cup 2024: We have discussed our mistakes enough and have time to rectify them, says Wanindu Hasaranga

Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga believes they have discussed at length their repeated mistakes in big tournaments and now is the time to shift their focus towards rectifying those failings, after the ignominy of another group league exit.

Hasaranga termed his team’s 83-run win against the Netherlands as coming “too late” after losing their matches against South Africa and Bangladesh in the group stage of the T20 World Cup.

“After each tournament, we meet and discuss that we made several mistakes. As a team, we must decide if we have to rectify those mistakes. I think we have not rectified them yet.

‘As captain, I am very sorry’ Hasaranga did not mince his words after another embarrassing first-round exit after finishing ninth in the ODI World Cup last year.

“We have discussed our mistakes in this World Cup and also in the previous ODI World Cup. So since we have not rectified them, we had to exit this tournament so soon.” The leg-spinner felt that it was the batting that led the team to defeat.

“When we think about the bowing battalion, we are also at the top of this tournament. Unfortunately, I know that our batting was not good enough as we expected and that’s why we had to leave this tournament so early,” he said. The captain put the blame squarely on the batsmen.

Hasaranga, however, did not want to read too much into the comments on social media, where there has been an outpouring of emotions from Sri Lankan cricket fans.

“As a player, we should not look at posts on social media. What is on social media is (posted) done by a small group of people to (instigate) other fans to get angry. (Genuine) Sri Lankan fans are with us even if we lose the matches. We must be very lucky to have this kind of fans in Sri Lanka. While Sri Lanka arrived in the United States at least 10 days before the start of the tournament, Hasaranga felt there was no similarity between the training camps and the playing fields.

“We must thank the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board for bringing us 10 days early and organizing a training camp like that. But I think from the places where we have practiced, the conditions (for the matches) are not the same.

“So we adapted in every way possible. Unfortunately, we had our first game in New York and it was not successful. And then we went to Dallas for the next game and we also could not adapt to the field there. We thought as a team and as captain, we assumed all responsibility.” But Hasaranga doesn’t want to hide behind the bad tracks of the United States and hide the dismal performance of his own team.

“Yes, you can blame the pitches and make up stories when you lose a match. But as professional cricketers, we can’t do that. All other countries also play on the same pitches, so we have to adapt. We have to admit it. So That’s why we come to these tournaments representing a country.

“We should have improved our cricket and not blamed others,” he concluded.