We kept on repeating the same mistakes – Lankan skipper Dimuth

Failure to put up good totals in the first innings at Galle and at SSC and not implementing plans properly in the middle were factors that led to Sri Lanka’s 2-0 defeat in the two-match Test series against Pakistan, said Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne.

“We lost both Tests at Galle and at the SSC because we failed to put up a good total in the first innings after winning the toss and batting first,” said Karunaratne at the post-match press conference.

“Our combination was right but we didn’t implement our plans properly in the middle. In Galle, our spinners performed well but the runs we scored were not enough. We put pressure only in patches. Although (Prabath) Jayasuriya bowled well from one end the pressure from the other was not there. Even the fast bowlers could not maintain the same pressure as the Pakistanis. When their spinners needed a rest the Pakistani fast bowlers bowled really well. They bowled fast, reverse swing and bouncers. They have that skill.

“In this series what we saw was how much of that was lacking with our fast bowlers. Only the first few overs with the new ball there is a chance of them taking a wicket after that they don’t have the skill. As far as I know only Suranga Lakmal and to a certain extent Asitha Fernando could reverse swing. We saw a lot of shortcomings on the bowling side during the series. We need to rectify them. If you are playing against a good side you need to have those skills, otherwise it is very difficult for us to win.”

As for the batting Karunaratne said that this was one series where he had failed to score even a fifty. “However there are 10 others in the team and they should also contribute. Of the seven batsmen at least three or four of them should make runs. None of us got the opportunity to make a good score in this series.”

“The options we took during the match were not calculated ones. We were playing a lot of high risk shots whereas Pakistan were doing the opposite and taking less calculated risks. We had a lot of chats about it but we kept on repeating the same mistakes,” lamented the Lankan captain.        

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam gave credit to his players after his team’s 2-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka 2-0.

“We played our best cricket and tried to dominate the series. Before we came to Sri Lanka we had a couple of good camps back home in Pakistan. We had a plan to play positive cricket and we knew the Sri Lankan conditions because we were here last year and played two Test matches in Galle,” said Babar at the post match press conference.

“All the credit should go to the management who worked very hard. We just believed in ourselves as players and as a team and adapted to the conditions well. Because there was rain on the second day we decided that we would play only one innings of this Test. We batted the whole of the third day and wanted to see how it went.

(Abdullah) Shafique and (Aghar) Salman played very well and after that all the credit to the fast bowlers and the spinners for bowling Sri Lanka out.”

“Although we lost the toss on both occasions our bowlers bowled very well in the first sessions. They took wickets and put Sri Lanka under pressure and then the spinners came into play.” – (ST)