“Everyone got out while trying to play shots” – Irfan Pathan criticizes Sri Lanka’s batting in 2024 T20 World Cup loss to South Africa

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan slammed Sri Lanka’s batting after their six-wicket loss against South Africa in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York on Monday. After electing to bat first, Sri Lanka was skittled out for a paltry score of 77 runs.

The Island nation kept losing wickets at regular intervals and could not get any momentum into their innings. Kusal Mendis top-scored with 19 runs off 30 balls as none of the batters could get going. 

It wasn’t the easiest of pitches to bat on and Sri Lankan batters’ shot selection wasn’t the best as they tried to play aggressively despite pitch assisting the bowlers.

“When the ball was moving so much at the start and was not coming onto the bat, if you see all the dismissals, they were bad shots and bad application. No batter got out caught behind while playing a normal drive or because of the ball moving a lot after pitching,” Irfan Pathan said while talking to Star Sports.

“That didn’t happen. Everyone got out while trying to play shots. If the application had been better, they might have scored 120. If they had scored 120, Sri Lanka might have won the match. You didn’t have to score 140-160 here. The craftsmanship and batsmanship were not seen from any batter,” the former India all-rounder added.

As the pitch was assisting the bowlers and the run-scoring was difficult, Pathan questioned Wanindu Hasaranga’s decision to bat first. 

“I also feel Sri Lanka shouldn’t have batted after winning the toss. I was saying that even before the match had started. If you don’t know the pitch conditions, batting first doesn’t make sense. You didn’t get the breather because you batted first after winning the toss and you got out for the lowest score in your T20 history. So they lacked application and didn’t read the pitch properly. The decision was wrong there,” he reasoned.

The former Indian all-rounder also questioned Sri Lanka’s decision to play Maheesh Theekshana ahead of Dilshan Madushanka.

“I feel combining both of these things, Sri Lanka were left far behind. One more thing, they needed to play Madushanka on this pitch. If you brought Theekshana in the 16th over, it means you felt the spinners were of no use. So you could have included Madushanka. He could have bowled with the new ball instead of Mathews,” Pathan observed.

Sri Lanka will next take on arch-rivals Bangladesh at the Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas on Friday.