Every Test like a knockout in WTC for Sri Lanka, says Dhananjaya de Silva

Colombo, June 28 Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva hailed the significance of the World Test Championship (WTC) after his side thumped Bangladesh by an innings and 78 runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) here to secure their first win of the current cycle. De Silva, reflecting on Sri Lanka’s position in the global competition, acknowledged that with his team playing fewer Tests than most, every match takes on the feel of a knockout encounter.

“The WTC is like other World Cups — a lot of matches are like knockouts for us,” de Silva said after the victory. “We’ve talked about how we win when we make the fewest mistakes, and we need those wins to get those extra points. In the last cycle, we made a few mistakes, and that’s what cost us. Hopefully, we can correct that this cycle.”

Sri Lanka, who are currently scheduled to play only a two-match series in this WTC cycle, relies heavily on the “percentage of points won” system that allows teams with fewer matches to remain in contention for a top-two finish. De Silva underlined how the WTC had changed the mindset of his players.

“It’s become a competitive trophy. We’ve even started thinking about our run rates in light of what’s happening. The Championship is a great thing for Test cricket,” he said. “We saw last time how well South Africa did and how they performed well recently, and they deserved to win it. They hadn’t won an ICC trophy, and the Test Championship meant a lot to them. As a country, they can value that highly.”

But while Sri Lanka’s Test ambitions remain high, their schedule paints a stark picture — the team is not slated to play another Test until May 2026. For their red-ball specialists, this presents a unique challenge.

“We only have domestic matches,” de Silva said. “Right now there’s a One-day tournament, and after that, there will be a three-day tournament. There’s also the National Super League. That’s how we’ll have to keep our form. Unfortunately, there are no Tests. We’ve made requests to SLC to play more Tests. I think they are talking about it with other teams. Even if we can play three or four extra Tests, we’ll be able to continue the good things we’re doing.”

De Silva also shed light on the team’s tactical evolution in the series against Bangladesh. Beyond scoring at a brisk pace, Sri Lanka’s bowlers focused on building pressure with more maiden overs — an area the captain said they had specifically targeted.

“Whenever we come into a Test series, we have some key performance indicators,” he explained. “One of the things we analysed this time was that our maiden percentage needed to be higher. So that’s what we planned to do. We have to keep some pressure on the opposition in Tests, in order to get some wickets at the other end. I think our bowlers did that very well.”

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