World Cup 2019: Sri Lanka's batting is a real concern, says Jayawardene

Former skipper Mahela Jayawardene is concerned about Sri Lankas batting in this World Cup saying the 1996 champions will need to put up a better show with the willow to give their bowlers more freedomSri Lanka crumbled to 136 against New Zealand in their first World Cup match In the second game against Afghanistan on Tuesday they were 144 for one in 211 overs before collapsing to 201 all out in 365 overs losing nine wickets for 57 runsThough Sri Lanka managed to pull off a 34run win in the rainhit match Jayawardene said it was disappointing to see the wickets tumble like nine pinsThere is no question that Sri Lanka could have batted better After such a good start where Kusal Perera batted beautifully and they had two big partnerships it was disappointing to see them lose their way in the middle Jayawardene wrote in a column for the ICCIn fairness to Mohammad Nabi he bowled well but the spinners were struggling to get much purchase and were just trying to hold the line The way Sri Lanka lost wickets to him in the middle order is a real concern and there were too many soft dismissals They need to be more proactive in that situation and put the bowler under pressureTalking about Sri Lankas next match against Pakistan on Friday Jayawardene said Playing Pakistan next in Bristol will be a very interesting game After losing a lowscoring game against New Zealand and after another lowscoring match here we need to see them put it all together with the batIf they can do that then the bowlers have a bit more freedom to put in place their game plans A flat track would certainly help them with that confidence but until then the batters need to dig inJayawardene said Sri Lankan batsmen lacked confidence and employed a wrong approach against AfghanistanI felt that too many players stayed back in their crease and that was the wrong approach They should have been looking at 250 plus in Cardiff and it is something they will need to put right he wroteThe hope is that the boost from this win will help the batting unit which looks short of confidence at the momentTalking about the bowlers Jayawardene said The bowlers did very well in difficult circumstances with Nuwan Pradeep who was excellent and then some good bowling by Lasith Malinga at the back end of the inningsWith their five quick bowlers in those conditions they always had a bit more in the tank and that made the difference in the end in the 34run victoryMahela Jayawardene has been a stalwart of Sri Lankan cricket over the years and whatever advice he gives can be vital for the current Indian teamJayawardenes numbers in ODI cricket speaks for itself he played 448 ODI matches for Sri Lanka scoring 12650 runs which included 19 hundreds He also captained Sri Lanka to the final of the World Cup 2011 where they eventually lost to India at the Wankhede StadiumWith inputs from PTICatch up on all the latest IPL News and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates