Sri Lanka hope to put travel nightmare behind them in T20 World Cup clash with Bangladesh

After a woeful start to their T20 World Cup campaign, Sri Lanka will be under immense pressure when they face Bangladesh in a must-win game at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday.

They were shot out for a record low score of 77 in their tournament opener against South Africa at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York after what was a chaotic build-up to the tournament.

That result came on the back of a torrid itinerary that has left Sri Lanka bedraggled and underprepared. Sri Lanka are one of two nations that have been asked to play their first-round matches at four different venues. The Netherlands are the other, out of the 20 participating teams.

Wanindu Hasaranga’s men played their two warm-up matches in Florida and had to travel for their opening World Cup game to New York, where they encountered a flight delay of over seven hours.

They were supposed to arrive in New York by 8pm on Friday, but eventually touched down at 5am the following morning, and as a result were forced to cancel their scheduled morning batting practice session.

Adding to their struggles, the team was booked in a hotel in downtown Brooklyn, around an hour and a half from the match venue. The significant distance resulted in travel fatigue and affected their performance.

Sri Lanka also had to depart for Dallas immediately after their match against South Africa, leaving them with no rest period and further disrupting their recovery cycle.

The early morning schedule of matches, done to cater to the South Asian audiences, has turned travel into a logistical nightmare for the team.

What has irked the islanders is other teams have been accommodated in lodgings closer to the venues and get to play their games at