Sri Lanka’s beleaguered Test captain Dinesh Chandimal blamed the lack of consistency by his batsmen and the number of injuries to key players for his team’s 3-0 whitewash of the three-Test series to India at the Pallekele International Stadium yesterday.
“I would say the main concern is injuries. The Australian series (which Sri Lanka won 3-0) we had everyone fit. No injuries whatsoever. Everyone chipped in. This series, there were so many injuries starting from Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Rangana Herath and then Asela Gunaratne. They played some really good cricket in the last six months. That’s the main issue. I don’t want to give excuses. We have to perform better than this,” said Chandimal at the post-match press conference.
“Consistency has also been a huge issue in this series. Some players cannot perform well in every series. As seniors, you have to do well. Then the youngsters will follow. I have a lot of faith. The seniors I hope will come back strongly when we take on Pakistan.”
Another factor that affected the team performances was the inability of the players to perform in the middle what they had discussed at training and team meetings.
“During training too we are doing a lot of hard work. We had some game plan and we spoke so many things during the game. As a player when you have to go to the middle you have to put them to practice. That was what the batters were unable to do. As players we had to stand up and do our performances well,” Chandimal said.
Chandimal admitted the two key points of the match was the innings played by Hardik Pandiya and the bowling spell of Mohammad Shami yesterday.
“Hardik batted brilliantly. The first spell by Shami and Umesh (Yadav) was brilliant. At one point we thought we were playing in England. They bowled so well making most of the conditions.”
Another factor that Sri Lanka had to delve into is the failure of the openers to put up a decent score and see the new ball off.
“That is a problem we have. As an opener you should at least bat for 15 to 20 overs. We gave some game plan to each and every player. They have to execute them when in the middle. We failed to do that in the series and that cost us dearly I would say,” said Chandimal.
It was Chandimal’s first series as captain and it certainly was a hard one to swallow. He missed out on the first Test being laid low by pneumonia but returned to lead in the last two.
“It’s pretty tough for me and the team. Credit goes to India. They have played outstandingly well in the series. I am disappointed that if we could have dragged the game to the fifth day we could have learned something, but losing within two and half days you cannot give any excuses,” said Chandimal.
“I would say this is the worse 3-0 defeat I have experienced. It was the toughest series no doubt in my career the reason being that we were not able to take the games to five days. There have been four-day Tests and three-day Tests but this is the worst series ever.
“As captain, I would like to take the responsibility. I apologize to the fans for this performance. There have been 3-0 defeats before but this is the worst. The fans have always supported us. They encourage us always. Today we saw despite losing, people applauding us. That is what the team needs now.
“We cannot let the players be mentally down. We are doing the processes right. We might not get results soon but I am very confident as captain that my players will be able to come back with good performances and get Sri Lankan cricket back to winning ways. I can see everyone trying hard. Everyone is very enthusiastic. I am hopeful the future will be good for us,” he said.
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