"You don't need to have outstanding players to win T20I games:" Sanath Jayasuriya

According to former Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya, teams do not need exceptional individuals to win T20 matches, but decent players can still contribute to a team's victory if they play well together.

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Jayasuriya believes the Sri Lankan team will do well in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. The 53-year-old who contributed significantly to Sri Lanka's victory in the 1996 ODI World Cup is confident about their team.

Not many experts had predicted Sri Lanka's victory in the recently held Asia Cup 2022, where they lost to Afghanistan before defeating India and Pakistan to win the tournament for a shocking fifth time. But cricket great Sanath Jayasuriya did not seem surprised. "I wasn't really surprised, because we have a good bunch of cricketers who peaked at the right time. They lost their first game . Anybody can lose a game and come back. They realised what went wrong, worked hard on their individual games and performed as a team. You don't need to have outstanding players , but good players, who perform as a team," Jayasuriya said.

"T20 cricket is a team game, it's a fast game. The boys are playing good cricket and whoever does well on that particular day is going to win the game," he added. He also believed that comparing them to the famous 1996 World Cup winning team is unfair. "As long as they play their own game, do their basics right, they will enjoy their cricket." 

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Sanath Jayasuriya is optimistic that high-profile cricket will return to their country. He also revealed that SL will organize their T20 Premier League in December. Jayasuriya, who has been named as the brand ambassador for Sri Lankan tourism, took time out from his busy schedule to attend a press conference to promote tourism in Sri Lanka. He is currently in India to play a few tournaments for Legends League.