6-1-4 delusion

There is a massive misinterpretation of T20I team selection that SL does, which I think as the core reason for failure. Let's try to realize this with the details of Asia cup. 

SL team is selected based on 6-1-4 combination. i.e. 4 bowlers, 6 batters and one all rounder. Many would say, that that is how every other country does. It is WRONG.

T20I teams contain 5 front-line bowlers and 6 batters. The most important part is the 5 front-line bowlers. These bowlers should be able to bowl their full quota of 4 overs most of the time. they should be attacking every over, not bowling for the sake of passing some overs. This idea of "passing some overs" is very very wrong. Even if you truly pass those overs for a very little runs, it allows the opposition to settle. Modern T20I cricket is constant attacking in every over until somewhere the opposition breaks open.

Let's take the other four top Asian teams. These are the five front-line bowlers of those teams.

India: Two of (Bumra, Arshdeep, Rana), Kuldeep, Axar, Varun (Pandya is a near perfect front-line bowler too)

Pakistan: Shaheen, Rauf, Farhim, Nawaz, Abrar (Saim is a near perfect front-line bowler too)

Afghanistan: Farooqi, Asmatullah, Nabi, Mujeeb/Noor, Rashid
Bangladesh: Three of (Tanzim, Shoriful, Taskin, Frizz), Mehedi, Rishad

Look, some are ALL ROUNDERs !!! You may say. True. But they are front-line attacking bowlers even at that point. It is the attacking front-line bowler that matters more than being an all rounder. Latter is just a bonus.

SL does NOT have any all rounders who can be called attacking front-line bowlers. Angelo was the only one. (Some even suggest that he may still come back. And he really did not retire from white ball knowing that the team has a hole fitting his size) Because we lack this kind and misinterpreting other teams' selection as 6-1-4, we always select only 4 front-line attacking bowlers and a 50% bowling all rounder. And then we have to "pass some overs" in the middle to compensate for this. And that is where the opposition looses the shackles.

A notable period of bowling is overs 11-16. This stretch is the point where many teams bowl their best attacking bowlers. This is the time when India broke SL's run chase of 202, and Pakistan's strong innings in the final. Take any game, they always bowl your best attacking bowlers and gained the control in that stretch.

Now take SL. This is the stretch where Asalanka has to "pass some overs" hence try Dassa Kamindu or himself. It helps the opposition. SL's returns of overs to 11-16 while bowling is very poor. this is the time when Bangladeshi sixth wicket pair consolidated in the very first game. A mistake in "passing the overs" in this stretch made a 50% bowler bowl the final over to Nabi in Afghan game. India lost control with Abhishek's wicket but poor 11-16 overs allowed Samson and Verma to consolidate. Even Pakistan lost 5 wickets yet consolidated in the space of overs 11-16. Why? There is no attack what so ever. We are still "passing overs" - a tactic T20 cricket has completely stopped doing. And we have to do so as we do not have five bowlers. And we still think in 6-1-4.

The key point is that SL should play five attacking bowlers. Probably three fast bowlers from (Chameera, Thushara, Matheesha, Binura, Asitha, Eshan, ... etc). We only have two T20I class spinners so Waniya and Theekshana are a must. We should not bother about their batting skills. More than that we should think how attacking they can be.

That leaves only 6 slots for batters. If Dasun Shanaka comes in as a batter I have no issue, but then someone else in the top 6 must make way for him. But he should not waste a front-line bowler slot.
This may not solve everything. Batting collapses may happen. But even in that case the batting weaknesses are quickly fixed when you have limited 6 batters. In the long run, what we should do is to improve the batting skills of those bowlers. Waniya is already doing well. Chameera shows some skills. The skill levels of Shaheen Shah is more than enough.

PS:
1. When I first said this, somebody commented that SL's coach must be knowing this well. I don't think so. He was very happy about Asia cup and I think he still lives in early 2000s in ODI cricket where SL had many 50% bowlers who "pass some overs" and won games for SL. Expect nothing like this.

2. It is very unfortunate that every time when I write about it the folks reply saying, how about giving a bowler's slot for Milan R , Ramesh Mendis, Chamindu W, Dunith etc. Well you are still effing choosing that all rounder crap. I have no issue if any of these guys getting selected as a 100% attacking frontline bowler. They are not yet there (they may get there). I am just saying that having batting skills should not be considered for the selection of five bowlers. Being an attacking bowler should only be the reason. Ppl are so deep with the all rounder crap that they still suggest all rounders as the solution for the fundamental mistake of selecting all rounders.

Tale of two nations, in the past and future

Most analysts agree that SL-W team's best time is not now, not when they won Asia Cup, but it was at 2013 WC. It was a bunch of young players, almost all in 20s, who could beat England and India, got selected to super-6 and then in the play-off secured 5th place - their best ever achievement in a WC so far.

So did SA, who played that play-off against SL and settled for the sixth. SL and SA were both pretty much equals in the period leading up, starting in late 90s (SA, after being suspended in 60s) and then beating each other in the bottom side of the table quite often. From the table bottoms of 2009, they both invested in young players, SL a bunch in 20s, SA a bunch of teenagers; Marizanne Kapp, Dane van Neikirk, Cloe Tryon, Sune Luus, Shubnim Ismail etc. These were their first bunch of world level players to bring them to S6 in 2013. Later they were joined by Laura Wolvaardt, Nadin De Klerk & co, basically the core of SA today.

With their rise of 2013, and these teenagers and 20+ players who stood a level high, both teams should have developed them into maturity, progressed further and reached higher goals. Tale of SA matched that expectation for them making to the SF stage of all world cups since then. 

Tale of SL was far from similar from 2013 onward. The cricket admin of SL between 2010 to 2020 was the worst, even worse than their usual crap.There were two factions that took it to a war and politicians adding more factions into it. The resultant mess killed the men's cricket in the tele-screen, but behind the curtain women's cricket was a silent victim. There were news of lack of coaching staff for women, lack of tours for many many months or years, negligence of players and even allegations of requesting sexual favors (ref: team wiki page). Most of the 2013 players did nothing major in their careers than gradually retiring mostly prematurely. Domestic levels were even worse managed that they rarely found replacements. Team barely managed one win - against Pakistan - in 2017 WC although Chamari stated with her 178 against Australia that she has leaped a level higher - a world class player.

That did not open any eyes though. Comes 2019, the COVID era was marked with something unique. No ODI cricket for women from 2019 till 2022, only a few T20I games were played in 2020 to mark any cricket in the period. I am pretty sure domestic circles took a longer break. SL's other world class player Shashikala retired, we heard that Chamari was moving to Australia (you cannot blame them, as there was no cricket at all). The lack of cricket degraded their team rankings and they lost their qualification to play in 2023 WC where the other nation, SA, made another SF entry.

By 2022, it was lucky that these players did not give up. Hashan, a relatively senior coach got assigned in 2021, and by chance in his absence they assigned Rumesh for just one tour, which made him stay thus far. Team started from the bottom and did pretty well in past four years to get where they are now. 

But the curse of those gloomy days still remain. The senior bunch is closing retirement, having wasted their best years in the days of nothingness. There are not enough replacements, except for the little U17 girls that came through Apsari's ground work. 

With that we look at years ahead, and I see another tale of two nations forming. This time it is Bangladesh and SL. Bangladesh has a bunch of young players, some in teens others in 20s. They did their best performance in a WC, and surely can look forward in the same way as SA did in 2013. SL can hopefully retain these seniors until their U19 talents come to forefront. Like SA matched up with SL in 2013, Bangladesh matches up with SL today.

Where will this tale of two nations head from here?