Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka conceded the fact that his team was really poor in the T20I series opener against India. Electing to bowl first didn’t go very well for Sri Lanka as the bowlers were taken for cleaners by India’s batters, led by Ishan Kishan (89 off 56 balls) and Shreyas Iyer (57 not out off 28 balls).
After being posed a challenging target of 200, Sri Lanka was never in the hunt as they lost Pathum Nissanka on the very first ball and lost half of their side by 12 overs. “We were really poor in all three departments. They batted beautifully, read the game and conditions really well. I could have bowled more,” said Shanaka in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Shanaka admitted that spinners Praveen Jayawickrama and Jeffrey Vandersay didn’t have much experience as compared to Maheesh Theekshana (nursing hamstring injury) and Wanindu Hasaranga (still in isolation in Australia due to Covid-19). “We are without two frontline spinners, Theekshana and Hasaranga. The replacements aren’t really experienced.”
Shanaka was hopeful of top-order batter Charith Asalanka doing well in the series. When other batters fell like nine pins, Asalanka battled through and played some good shots to remain unbeaten at 53 off 47 balls. “Asalanka was positive from this game. Hopefully, Asalanka carries his form throughout the series.”
Shanaka signed off by saying that the circumstances didn’t allow him to give pacer Dushmantha Chameera a longer spell in the first six overs. After an opening over of five runs, Chameera wasn’t given a second straight over as Chamika Karunaratne was given a go.
Karunaratne leaked 15 runs, including giving Kishan width to hit three boundaries, which eventually set the tone for an explosive 89. “Chameera is bowling beautifully. He is our main strike bowler but the situations didn’t allow me to bowl him longer,” concluded Shanaka.
With 1-0 behind in the three-match series, Sri Lanka has a lot of work to do to square the series in the second match at Dharamsala on Saturday.
