Legendary Sri Lanka cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya has lauded young Indian batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, saying that he has a long way to go, while terming Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson as talented and proven players.
Commenting on Sri Lanka’s prospects at the Asian Games, where the women’s team is set to battle against India in the gold medal game and the men’s campaign is scheduled to kick off later this week, Jayasuriya backed both squads to deliver strong performances. He also reserved special praise for rising Sri Lankan batting all-rounder Sonal Dinusha, and hailed his ability to deliver under pressure. “Very good player, and future of Sri Lanka. It’s always been good to see a player like him performing really well under pressure. It’s not easy and in every innings he played really well,” he added.
Dinusha had scores of 100 and 84 in the first Test against India in Galle which Sri Lanka lost. But his knocks of 103 and 133 not out in the second one at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo helped Sri Lanka seal an epic draw. In a bid to test players across different dynamics of the sport, the tournament will feature a mix of formats, including 11-overs-a-side, T20s, and 40-over matches, thus allowing working cricketers to showcase their adaptability and skills under varied conditions.
“I think we have a talented, good team for Asian Games, men’s and women’s and they’re doing well and I hope they will continue to do well,” he noted. “So from that talent, like the players we have been talking about just now, how he became a player for India, it’s like that you’ll be able to find few players, so that’s the key,” concluded Jayasuriya.
