ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

October 17, 2022

Chamika Karunaratne

Kardinia Park

Sri Lanka

Pre Match Media Conference

Q. UAE had a close match yesterday, so how do you see them as a team?

CHAMIKA KARUNARATNE: Yeah, the UAE, the whole team is really good. You see yesterday how Namibia played the match, so we have to plan really well for the UAE team and we have to play good cricket tomorrow.

Q. How do you look at the position of the group as of now?

CHAMIKA KARUNARATNE: You know, yesterday we lost the match, and so right now somehow we have to win -- no matter what, we have to win the next two matches. I think the boys all know that. We are definitely going to put more than 100 per cent in the next two matches.

We are looking at the players that we have right now. Still all four teams are playing good cricket. Even the last match yesterday, UAE was -- Netherlands was finishing the last ball. We don't know what can happen, and because this game is always exciting and a bunch of funny things. Anything can happen, so we'll see.

Q. Do you think there's some possibilities of some changes in your team?

CHAMIKA KARUNARATNE: No, you know, we just had a bad day, and we have to accept that Namibia played good cricket yesterday from all three, batting, bowling, all three departments. So we have to accept that, and what we have to do is we have to review what we did, our mistakes and everything, so we will take it more seriously and just play the next few matches because we are better than that. We are so much better than that.

I know our players and the staff and everyone is going to come back more strong and is going to play some good cricket.

Q. Asia Cup your start was not very good but you went on to win the tournament. How was this versus that time, and what do you learn from that time?

CHAMIKA KARUNARATNE: Sure, because we are all together, we just sat down just to talk about what happened and all the mistakes what we did and what we can do more. So the same thing happened. The Asia Cup we lost to Afghanistan in the first match, and after that we won all the matches.

But we aren't thinking the same way because the Asia Cup is passed now. It's history. Now it's like we have to think about the World Cup. It's not the Asia Cup, and different places, different conditions, different country.

The ground is also so different. Even one side is 57, one side is 55, in long boundaries and in straight. So many things are different, so we have to plan and we have to play our game because we have a young side that we can -- as players have so much energy and so much fit players.

We have to take that advantage, and we have to come back really strong and we have to play our game in a better way.

Q. What do you think can be your strong points, your strengths during this tournament going forward?

CHAMIKA KARUNARATNE: The best I think for us is we have everything. We have the power hitting, we have who can control the game, and we are fit players, strong players and mindful, tactical -- we have all who can play in the different areas where we have the pace, we have the variation and the spin is really good.

What we have to do is we have to bring the right attitude. That's the most important thing. But we have to have that. Not for us, even for the whole other sides, as well. But I think if we bring the right attitude, that's the main thing. If we bring the right attitude, we can beat any team anytime.