Chandimal eyeing opponents' spin weaknesses

Sri Lanka will look to use their opponents' deficiencies against spin to their advantage at the World T20 in Bangladesh, captain Dinesh Chandimal has said. Their spinners' form in the recently-concluded Asia Cup, which Sri Lanka won, augured well for the team, Chandimal said.

"The way our spinners bowled in the Asia Cup and [the fact that] the pitches will assist them [means] we have a good chance in the tournament," Chandimal said ahead of his side's opening game, against South Africa. "We are in a group with teams that are not comfortable at playing spin, so we have a good chance. However we will take it match by match.

"Our main focus is to get to the semi-finals. From there onwards we will have to plan our strategies differently."

The other Full Member nations in Sri Lanka's group are England, South Africa and New Zealand, all three teams which have traditionally had trouble against spin. Sri Lanka have many spin options to their disposal, including Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis, Sachithra Senanayake and Seekkuge Prasanna. They'll also be bolstered by the availability of part-timer Tillakaratne Dilshan, who is fit to play having recovered from a thumb injury. Chandimal confirmed Dilshan's availability, but did not expand on where he would bat once slotted in.

"We decided to bat first in the first [warm-up] game and in the second we decided to bowl first. We also tried out a different batting line-up and sent Seekkuge Prasanna up the order. We'll have to pick our batting order.

"We've got Kusal [Perera], Dilshan and [Lahiru] Thirimanne, they are in good form but first we have to see the conditions and the pitch. We have still not planned anything about our batting order."