“There are players & journalists who are more capable than Wanindu” – Sri Lanka Sports Minister hits back at critics despite a poor 2024 T20 World Cup
Sri Lanka Sports Minister Harin Fernando has hit back at critics of Wanindu Hasaranga in the ongoing 2024 T20 World Cup. He has backed the team despite losses to South Africa and Bangladesh by six and two wickets, respectively. Their latest game against lower-ranked Nepal was abandoned due to rain, which forced them to settle for one point each.
SL are now on the verge of elimination but not officially ruled from the mega ICC event. They can reach a maximum of three points if they beat the Netherlands in their last group-stage game.
Sharing Fernando's sarcastic comments on X (formerly Twitter), NewsWireLK quoted him as saying:
"There are players and journalists who are more capable than Wanindu on social media.”
The Islanders were bundled out for 77 against the Proteas in their opening T20 World Cup game. They then managed just 124/9 against Bangladesh in their second group-stage game.
“I don't think we earned the spot for the Super 8” – Maheesh Theekshana rues Sri Lanka’s failures in the 2024 T20 World Cup
Sri Lanka spinner Maheesh Theekshana recently expressed disappointment as his team were all but out of the race for the 2024 T20 World Cup Super-Eight round. He told the reporters post-washout versus Nepal:
“Everything went wrong this year. We didn't bat well and we didn't assess the conditions really well and our plans, everything went wrong. And I think as a team right now, it's not going to be easy for the next game but still, I think when we look at the last two games that we played, we didn't play well. We didn't play the best cricket that we had.”
"So, I think we didn't earn the spot - the way we played in the first two games. I don't think we earned the spot for the Super 8 but still, we have one game left, so we'll try to do our best," he added.
SL also failed to deliver in the 2023 ODI World Cup last year, managing just two wins in nine round-robin games.