We need players to put their hands up often on good tracks: Coach Silverwood

Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka shone single-handedly in the run chase with an unbeaten century

 Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood at the post-match press conference

• Second ODI at Eden Gardens, Kolkata today

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Head coach Chris Silverwood wants Sri Lankan batsmen to put their hands up more on good batting tracks than they are doing at present after they lost the first ODI to India by 67 runs chasing 373 at Guwahati on Tuesday.

“I thought the partnership between Pathum (Nissanka) and Dhananjaya (de Silva) was excellent and gave us the momentum when they were together,” said Silverwood at the post-match press conference. “We’ve seen during a period of time each individual has put his hand up. I am not overly worried about that. They need to put their hands up more on very good tracks like this and build partnerships.”

After Sri Lanka lost their first three wickets for 64 runs in 14 overs, De Silva (47) joined Nissanka (72) and together they added a further 72 in 11 overs

“We didn’t get off to the best of starts. To be brutally honest our disciplines in the first 10 overs were lacking at times. We allowed India to get off to a good start,” said Silverwood. “Obviously this is a very high scoring ground and we knew we had to get off to a good start as well. 

“We weren’t able to do that because you gain momentum from that. We had to push back to try and put the brakes on. I think we did for a period of time, but when you have a class batting line up like India has, it is difficult to stop them.”

Sri Lanka only further compounded their misery by dropping India’s best batsman, Virat Kohli twice at 52 and at 81 off the unlucky Kasun Rajitha. Kohli went on to score a century (113 off 87 balls) and see India to an imposing total of 373-7.

“Moments like that are very critical. We gave our best. We know it was going to be high scoring and we all know that if you give a player of Virat’s calibre an opportunity he is going to make you pay for it. That’s what he did today. Firstly, well played to him because it was an excellent knock, but had we taken those opportunities it presented, you never know,” said Silverwood.

That Sri Lanka even managed to reach a total in excess of 300 – 306/8 was due to a brilliant century from the captain Dasun Shanaka who is perhaps in the form of his life.

Shanaka who came to bat in the 25th over at the fall of the fourth wicket, batted the entire second half of the Sri Lanka innings to carve out a superb century – 108* off 88 balls and like what happened to his team in the first T20I (which they lost by two runs), he could not find a single batsman to support him. He eventually found one in number 10 Kasun Rajitha (9*) with whom he figured in an unbroken partnership of 100, but by then the result was a foregone conclusion.

“I don’t think we rely on Dasun. He is in a great vein of form at the moment so obviously he is shining,” said Silverwood and added, “He has done himself a world of good. He’s put himself in the market place now and I am sure that there will be franchises looking at him and seeing how dynamic a cricketer he is. A great striker of the ball, hopefully he will get an opportunity.”

Shanaka’s batting has been a revelation for Sri Lanka during this present tour of India. What he has done is carried his excellent form shown in the T20I format to the ODIs. If only some of the batters can also contribute at the top, with the form Shanaka is currently in, Sri Lanka will be capable of chasing down any total India sets them, or set up a total big enough to give their bowlers a chance of setting attacking fields and taking wickets.

The second ODI commences at Eden Gardens, Kolkata today.