We played enough against England, now able to react to different situations: Sri Lanka coach Sridhar

Sri Lanka's coach R. Sridhar discusses lessons learned from England and strategies for the upcoming T20 World Cup Super Eights match.

Fielding coach R Sridhar on Saturday (February 21, 2026) said Sri Lanka has moved on from their home 0-3 drubbing by England in the run-up to the T20 World Cup, and believed that his side is now better equipped to react to different situations in Sunday's (February 22, 2026) Super Eights match against the Three Lions.

England whitewashed Sri Lanka in a three-match T20I series just seven days before the start of the ongoing T20 World Cup, but Sridhar did not count that as a deterrent in producing a good outing against Harry Brook's side.

"At this stage of this tournament, it's a lot different from what a bilateral series is. I mean, bilateral series and private leagues, there's no pressure as much as it would be in a World Cup Super-8 game. And it is for all teams. It is for all teams, whether it is England, whether it is Sri Lanka, whether it is India or Pakistan, whoever it is, when you're playing a super 8 game, you will not play with the same freedom as you would do in a bilateral or a private league," Sridhar said in the pre-match press conference.

"So, the pressure will be the same for both teams. The teams which do things correctly under pressure, the teams which make lesser mistakes is the team that is likely to go through," he added.

Despite the heavy reversal, the former India fielding coach said there were a lot of positive takeaways from the series against England.

"We played, I remember the first game, we were bundled out for 130-odd and there are a couple of learnings from that as a batting unit. We learned immediately in the next game, we posted a score of 180, 190, I guess. Then there was a bit of a rain interruption and we saw some good batting at the back end from Tom Banton and the rest of the team which took the game away.