Wanindu Hasaranga previews Sri Lanka v South Africa

Wanindu Hasaranga previews Sri Lanka v South Africa   02/06/2024  Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York, USA

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon everyone and welcome to this pre-match press conference with Sri Lanka

00:04captain Wanindu Hasaranga.

00:09As always I just want to ask if you can please put up your hand before you begin now that

00:14we've got a lot more people in the room and then I will let you know who will go first.

00:22Who would like to go first?

00:26Hi, Karan Nair from Tripura Times.

00:32Just wanted to know after being here, played the matches and how do you find the other

00:39conditions and how well prepared are you for the match?

00:45First of all we prepared really well, we came two weeks early to North Carolina and we had

00:51a practice session there and we played two practice matches in Florida and I think as

01:00a team we prepared really well and conditions similar to Sri Lanka, so I think as a team

01:08we prepared really well.

01:15Speaking specifically about the international cricket ground that you're going to play at

01:21tomorrow, how do you think the pitch will behave given that it's brand new?

01:28We saw the practice games against India and Bangladesh, we saw the wickets and it's like

01:37bounce is uneven and we saw like tennis ball bounce, I think otherwise wicket was good

01:49and you know good outfield as well, so I think it will be helpful for our bowlers.

02:00Are you surprised that cricket has come to America and how different has it been for

02:06you as an experience?

02:07Typically America is not on the map when you're talking about cricket but you're here, so

02:12are you surprised about that and how has it been so far for you?

02:16America is fantastic, we came early and we had a few practice sessions and we adjusted

02:23to the conditions first in North Carolina and we came to the ICC event, so far we had

02:36a good practice session and we had a good time in America and now we have a game tomorrow

02:44from start tomorrow, so we are ready.

02:50It's not often that you play a T20 match at 10.30 in the morning, so what is the kind

02:54of preparation, what are the challenges, you may be used to playing under lights in these

02:59kind of games, so do you have to prepare differently for those starts?

03:02No, if we play under lights then we have to prepare with the field and everything under

03:11the lights and then the only concern is we have to come early to the ground, we have

03:20to come at 7.30 in the morning because we were so far from the ground, it will take

03:28like one and a half hours to the ground, that's the only concern we have.

03:37Which area have you strengthened and especially your spin has always been your strong point

03:43and how useful it will be against an opponent like you are facing tomorrow?

03:49Yeah, you know me and Mahesh Dixit we are both in the top five in the ICC rankings and

03:57we have good fast bowlers as well, we also have Mahesh Dixit and Nuvan Tushar, they played

04:06IPL matches in India, so we have a very strong bowling attack, so I think that's a key point

04:15we have.