Last Updated on 4 months by Charbel Coorey
Sri Lanka endured a difficult start to their 2024 T20 World Cup campaign, losing by six wickets to South Africa after being bowled out for 77 on a difficult New York pitch. And, it doesn’t get any easier for the Lions, with a terrible travel schedule making life quite difficult.
Matches at four different venues, tight schedules and delayed flights have made the USA experience unbearable for the Sri Lankan team. They had to rush their media commitments after the South Africa match because they had to get back to their Brooklyn hotel, pack their bags, check out, and make their way to a 6pm flight to Dallas.
Worse, the Brooklyn hotel was an hour-and-a-half away.
Travel schedule so unfair on Sri Lanka – Maheesh Theekshana
Spinner Maheesh Theekshana shedded light on the challenges. “So unfair for us, we have to leave every day [after the match] because we are playing [at] four different venues,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“It’s unfair. The flight we took from Florida, from Miami, we had to wait like eight hours in the airport to get the flight. And we came around. We were supposed to leave at 8pm but we got the flight at 5am. It’s really unfair for us, but it doesn’t matter when you play [on the field].”
Theekshana also confirmed that Sri Lanka had to cancel their match-eve training session due to the travel.
“Yeah, that’s why,” he said. “Because even from the hotel, it’s one hour and 40 minutes. Even today [match day], we had to wake up around 5am to come here.”
“I can’t say the names of the teams that have got the opportunity to stay in the same place but their hotel is only 14 minutes to the ground. Ours was like one hour and 40 minutes,” he continued.
According to reports, Ireland and South Africa also suffered disruptions in their travel from Florida to New York. As a result, the ICC has come in for criticism.
Sri Lanka’s next game, against Bangladesh, is now a must-win. They will have some time to prepare for that match as it is set to take place on Friday night.
There is history between the two nations, with the latest being the Angelo Mathews-Shakib Al Hasan timed-out drama in the 50-over World Cup last year. So, anything is possible.
