We bowled too many loose balls – spin bowling coach Wijetunge

Spin bowling coach Piyal Wijetunge said that Sri Lanka bowled too many loose balls that allowed Pakistan the luxury of scoring at the rate of four runs an over in the ongoing second Test at the SSC grounds.

Pakistan resuming their first innings at 178-2 added 363 runs on the third day off 93 overs to finish on 563-5, a lead of 397.

“Credit must go to the Pakistani batsmen who handled our bowlers well. The main problem was we couldn’t get enough wickets,” said Wijetunge at the end of the day. “Their batsmen are employing the same batting tactics of the teams playing in the Ashes and trying to maintain a run rate of four runs an over. They were helped by the wicket becoming easier and our bowlers not bowling at 100 percent.”

“We have been bowling too many loose balls and the Pakistani batsmen capitalized on them at every opportunity, that’s why they were able to maintain a run rate of over four an over. We try as far as possible to keep the run rate below three an over but giving four an over is too much.” Wijetunge was of the view that the third spinner Dhananjaya de Silva was underbowled during the Pakistani innings.

“We can consider Dhananjaya as a frontline spinner. This is the spin attack with which we have to go forward.”

Sri Lanka’s main spinners leaked many runs with Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis going at nearly four an over. – (ST)