I would rank the double century as the third best of my career: Chandimal

 David Warner congratulates Dinesh Chandimal despite the Australians being at the receiving end of a poor umpiring decision

• “Australia were mentally down after we scored 49 in the last six overs” 

Former captain Dinesh Chandimal said that he ranked his unbeaten double century against Australia at the Galle International Cricket Stadium as the third best of his rather rocky Test career. The innings enabled Sri Lanka to turn tables on Australia and win by an innings and share the two-Test series one-all.

Chandimal came to the wicket with Sri Lanka three down for 186 and after a slow beginning settled himself down to carve out his maiden double hundred in Test cricket, an innings that simply knocked the fight out of the gritty Australians.

“I see two turning points in the match, one, when Prabath (Jayasuriya) bowled brilliantly on the second morning to dismiss Australia for 364. They were at one time 329-5 and we thought they would end up scoring at least 450. The other turning point was the last six overs of our innings where we scored an extra 49 runs when I attacked (Mitchell) Starc and (Pat) Cummings. That’s when the Australians went down mentally,” said Chandimal.

It was terrific batting by Chandimal who hit four sixes and three fours off the quick men during that phase that knocked the stuffing out of the Aussies. He raced from 159 to 206 off 18 balls in the company of last man Kasun Rajitha who hung around for 34 minutes without scoring to see Chandimal to his milestone.

“Personally, I would rank it as my third best knock. When you bat at No’s. 5, 6 or 7 it is not easy to score a double century.  What I learnt from this innings is how to score a double century with the lower order batsmen. We play with a lot of patience and if we are to score a double hundred you have to put patience aside and score quickly. That is the experience I gained from my innings,” said Chandimal.

“My best knock was the century (162*) I scored against India at Galle in 2015. We had virtually lost the match. We came to the grounds having packed our bags on the fourth day. That was my best innings, to pack your bags and come to the ground and then to return to the hotel and check in again after winning, it is something that you can never forget.”

“The other innings is the century (155*) I scored in Abu Dhabi in 2017 against Pakistan. The heat was 44 degrees and I batted for about five sessions almost nine hours and we won. It was Pakistan’s first defeat at Abu Dhabi. Those are the two innings that stand out in memory, because we won with the greatest difficulty.” 

Chandimal has not had a rosy international career, being on the sidelines on several occasions, not always due to poor form but to other factors outside cricket as well. So, when the opportunity to score big came along he seized it with both hands, even at the expense of Australia having to grind their teeth at the disallowed catch behind the wicket by umpire Kumar Dharmasena. Chandimal was on 30 when the incident happened.

“I didn’t feel the ball hit my bat. When (Steve) Smith and Starc asked me, I said, ‘To be honest I didn’t feel anything, sorry’. But when I saw the replay on the screen, I felt very bad, but honestly, I didn’t feel anything,” recalled Chandimal. “The ball is travelling at almost 150kph so the faintest of touches you may not feel. I am not the first batsman to give a catch and score a hundred, most of the players score a hundred after giving chances. You need a bit of luck as well.”

Recollecting the number of ups and downs in his career 32 year old Chandimal said: “I didn’t have a big issue technically except for a few small adjustments mostly it was mental. We have to be strong mentally. Some matches I haves stayed out some matches I have played. To represent your country is something you relish. I waited for that opportunity. 

“I must personally thank my family, my wife, my fans, team mates, supporting staff and the media personnel who have been supportive of me during difficult times. When players are going through a bad patch in life, as well as in cricket you need the support of everyone. There are others, however much you perform they will only look at the negative side of things.”