The 27th edition of the Mercantile Basketball League is set to commence in the second week of June as it was postponed from the original date due to adverse weather conditions. As the top corporates battle each other outside of the leather seats and fancy carpets; let`s take a look whether they have what it takes to win the battle.

Peoples Team of the MSBA League 2017 – Vote

The 27th Edition of the Mercantile Basketball League will commence during the third week of June..

Six men`s teams and three women`s teams will compete in the A Division of the tournament. Out of the nine corporates in competition here`s a look at Hatton National Bank Men`s Basketball Team.

HNB bid adieu as they lost the semi-finals of the tournament by a point in last year’s edition. That has been the sad song of HNB for the past couple of years as the hoodoo of the semi-finals has haunted them. Even though the lads have missed out on a regular practice session, they are in-shape to make amends and to grab the points that slipped through them in the previous edition.   

The team has played together for about 4-5 years, hence not having a regular practice session will not really harm the coordination and the chemistry of the team. HNB is strong outside the perimeter in offense, that has been their specialty.   

The lapse in not having a regular practice session will come into play in their fitness. Their fitness level will be low comparatively with the rest of the teams. Hence HNB has been focusing on brushing up their skills and engaging in more fitness drills to bring it up to standard.      

HNB do possess a strong bench. So the substitution and rotation of players during the game will definitely help HNB to over-come their low level fitness. It will be the key on how HNB will approach each game in the tournament.     

HNB Basketball CaptainCaptain Maheel Egodalowaththa speaking to the ThePapare.com, “We lost the semi-finals last year by only one point so we hope that we can come to the finals at least this year. Having a national coach with us will help us get there. Last year we beat the champion team in the group stages so if we give our best on that day I see no reason why we can’t become a finalist this year. Although we do definitely expect tough competition from teams such as Fair-First Insurance.”

Coach Prasanna Jayasinghe speaking to ThePapare.com said “We haven’t had very regular practice up until now but all the players are getting into it now working on their fitness and working on any faults they have. All the other teams underestimate HNB and we always surprise them with a good fight, this time to make it to the finals we need to work on our shooting percentage which isn’t too difficult. We have a good set of bench players to substitute when the first 5 are tired so we won’t risk the game with substitutions. There are a lot of well-balanced teams this year but we hope we will be able to make it to the finals this year.”

Coach Prasanna Jayasinghe, a veteran in the field also coached the national team in the recently concluded SABA Championship and last year’s U18 Women`s Asia Cup. With his international experience in hand he will know which cards to play at the right moment.

HNB Men`s Team: Thamindra Fernando,  Thilan Chandana, Nimesh Fernando, Nimesh Kavinda, Lakshan Kulathunga, Shehan Udayanga, Wijaya Basker, Nipun Lakshitha, Hiran Wijesuriya, Roshan Randima, Isuru Perera.