No mystery spinner, no problem as Sri Lanka's pace battery does the magic

If you doubt things have shifted for Sri Lanka, please consider that before they had stepped on to the field in the Asia Cup match against Bangladesh on Saturday, they had decided to leave out their mystery spinner.

For Sri Lanka men's earliest T20I teams, mystery spinners were vital. Muthiah Muralidaran had the killer doosra, Ajantha Mendis had batting orders wrapped around his fingers, Akila Dananjaya was picked from obscurity at age 18 for a World Cup campaign, Sachithra Senanayake, Tharindu Kaushal… you get the picture. Even Rangana Herath had a carrom ball.

So central was mystery spin to strategy that Sri Lanka's captains would even occasionally hide mystery spinners during group matches to keep their secrets shrouded till the knockouts.

But it's 2025. Times have changed. Horizons have broadened. Sri Lanka have rapid bowlers. They have round-arm bowlers. They have two-arm bowlers. Against Bangladesh, they turned up, totted up their options, and decided the mystery spin of Maheesh Theekshana was surplus to requirement. They fielded three frontline fast bowlers. This was in Asia, on a track that always looked like it would take some turn.

It is an interesting trio of quicks. Two of them bowl roundarm. Two bowl fast. Two are good in the powerplay (each of those descriptions fits a different pair). For the team management, it's also likely that different calculations recommended each of these bowlers. Dushmantha Chameera, the most senior fast bowler in the squad, had the form coming into this match - plus the experience. Nuwan Thushara had been expensive in the last game he had been picked for, but the man had 12 wickets in five matches against Bangladesh - plus an economy rate of 6.57. These are not numbers worth ignoring. Matheesha Pathirana had much worse numbers against Bangladesh in T20Is - and an economy of 10.09 in three matches - but perhaps there was a hunch that roundarm bowlers rattle this particular opposition.

It would turn out that Pathirana would bowl a wild final over, and finish with bad figures. But it didn't matter, because even without him, Sri Lanka's seamers had still set this game up in the first two overs. Thushara bowled an airtight first over, looking for that swing into left-hand batter Tanzid Hasan, before zooming through the gate with one that straightened off the last ball. Chameera was even better following up from the other end, finding pace and pitch-perfect lengths in the channel before nicking Parvez Hossain Emon off.

Thushara and Chameera had each bowled a wicket maiden, and Bangladesh were 0 for 2. Rarely are T20 matches decided in the first two overs, but by this stage, Bangladesh had used up 10% of their overs, lost 20% of their wickets, and wasted a third of their powerplay for zero runs - a situation they had never been in before. Batting teams also don't tend to spring out of holes like that.

Worse, Thushara's next over brought only four runs, and Chameera's next just three, all of which meant batters were taking risks they otherwise might not have. In the middle of the fifth over, Towhid Hridoy was caught short by a direct hit from Kamil Mishara from the deep, as he attempted a dodgy third run. From 11 for 3 after 4.3 overs on a decent track, a competitive score tends to require minor miracles.

Spin, meanwhile, was entirely ineffective for Sri Lanka. I'm joking, of course - Wanindu Hasaranga came in to spin googlies into pads, dust off some celebrappeals, and take two wickets, which was more than any of the quicks. This being a Sri Lanka match at an Asia Cup, some familiar decorum must be maintained. And yet it was Thushara and Chameera's identical figures - four overs, one maiden, 14 runs, for one wicket - that both broke the game open for Sri Lanka, and depressed Bangladesh's final score most.

There are signs now that following a 10-year lurch, Sri Lanka might be entering a period of stability. There are several reasons for this, two of which are the domestic structure having improved significantly since the introduction of the National Super League, and consistency from the selectors headed over the past two years.

On the fast-bowling front, what this has meant is that quicks aren't rushed from T20s to Tests to ODIs the moment they begin to prosper at the international level, and Sri Lanka have been able to develop a pace battery for each format. Thushara and Pathirana only really play T20s, for instance. Dilshan Madushanka is solely an ODI bowler for now. Vishwa Fernando and Lahiru Kumara are Test specialists.

The coaching staff also seem to have had an effect. Chameera has always had a decent yorker, but he is currently deploying them more consistently than he ever has in the death overs. On Saturday, he bowled the 20th over against two set batters, and conceded only eight runs.

The era of the mystery spinner was Sri Lanka's greatest in white-ball cricket. Those teams made five global finals between 2007 and 2014, winning one. But sometimes the past needs letting go. This team could still play mystery spinner Theekshana through the course of this tournament. But they have built up options.