That 2007-2014 team was arguably Sri Lanka’s best team, reaching no less than five World Cup finals (three in T20Is and two in ODIs), before finally winning the 2014 T20 title.
The first task is to get into the top three of the ICC rankings, Asalanka said ahead of the series against New Zealand. In the T20Is, where teams play first, Sri Lanka are ranked 8. In the ODIs, they are curiously a little better, despite not having qualified for next year’s Champions Trophy, and are ranked 6. They need to progress. on both fronts, said Asalanka, who has been captain of both formats since August this year.
“We need to move up the rankings, because that shows we’ve been winning consistently,” he said. “Our goal is to climb into the top three in the rankings. If we have been winning consistently, when we go to the ICC tournaments, we will not be exposed.
“We would have played against good teams and we would have won, as we did in 2014 and before, when we easily reached the semifinals. We hope to return to that level. It is important to play very well from tour to tour.”
“We recently started winning a few games in a row,” Asalanka said. “It is the same team that played. Until the foundation of our cricket improves a little more, we are trying to play with the best XI. But we have a big plus point, which is that the players on the bench have also had a chance , and they have performed well before returning to the bench.
“We expect to play with our best XI all the time. That’s how our bench improves too, because then they know how well you have to play to get a place in that XI. And the players in the XI also fight for their own places. I think that we have improved that situation recently. Hopefully we can develop 15/16 really strong players in the course of a year.
