PATCHY, SHAKY SRI LANKA THRIVE ON LUCK

Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup journey is already showing a familiar pattern of inconsistency. Their clinical victory over Bangladesh last Saturday had fans excited about a genuine title defence.

- By CHAMPIKAFERNANDO IN DUBAI

Yet, on Monday against Hong Kong China, a side with little experience at this level, Sri Lanka scraped through by four wickets in a match that should have been routine.

On the scorecard, it looked like a regular win, but anyone who watched the match knew it was far from comfortable. Chasing 150, Sri Lanka’s batting stumbled once again. The middle order fell away, leaving Pathum Nissanka to carry the innings almost single-handedly. For a team that won this tournament three years ago, that kind of collapse is worrying.

Nissanka has been the constant presence in an otherwise unpredictable batting lineup. His half-century held the chase together in Dubai, but even he admitted it was not easy. “The pitch was slow, and we had very little knowledge about their bowlers who were operating at around 120 kilometres per hour,” he said after the match. “That made it tricky.”

But what he did not say was just as telling. He was dropped four times on either side of his fifty, and those missed chances kept Sri Lanka alive. On another night against another opponent, the story could have ended differently.