Chandimal reveals Sri Lanka’s strength against India

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Dinesh Chandimal during the pre-match press-conference at the Eden Gardens. Image Source: XtraTime

Kolkata: Though he can’t bowl due to an injury but Sri Lanka would be looking at Angelo Mathews’s batting capabilities when they will face India in the first Test at the Eden Gardens starting tomorrow. Lankan skipper Dinesh Chandimal said that the team management would send Mathews to number four in the three-match Test series.

“He gives us confidence as a batting unit. He will bat at number four. He has all the experience and at the top of the order and we will get maximum out of it,” Chandimal said on the eve of the first Test at Eden Gardens.

Though Mathews haven’t scored a Test ton since August 2015 and during this period of time he has only scored 917 runs in 32 innings at an average of just 28.65 and his average has also gone down from 52,06 to 44.93.

Incidentally his last hundred came against India — a knock of 102 in Colombo in August as he will look to lend solidity to the batting lower down.

“We are looking forward to his experience. He was unbelievable in 2013-14. Hope he will put his hands up and do best.”

Having missed the entire Pakistan series because of a calf injury, Mathews is back and will be senior most in the batting lineup.

“We will miss Mathews as a bowler as he gives us more confidence and can balance the side really well. Unfortunately with his injury he can’t bowl in Tests.

Playing their first Test in India since 2009, Sri Lanka will also eye a maiden win in the longer format here as they have lost 10 matches and drawn the remaining six here.

The Eden track is quite green as off now and Chandimal feels that their batsmen and bowlers would make best use of it.

“In our last series here, we played really good against their seamers. We are confident to play on the grassy conditions and bouncy pitches.

“We are more than capable of playing in this kind of conditions. We need to get a good start, especially the top four and then we can continue,” Chandimal said.

“As a team we need to make things right, we have to execute our plans really well. They (India) are really good and have a lot of experience, we need to do our best and the results will come our way.”

India had whitewashed them 9-0 across three formats not so long ago and Chandimal said they learnt the lessons the tough way.

“They have been outstanding. They have done a lot of hardwork in practice, on and off the field. They are really good as a team in every format. They look really balanced.”

“We all know India are the number one side at the moment in the Tests. They have played some really good cricket last two years. It was a tough series in Sri Lanka and as a team we have learnt a lot from that time.”

Sri Lanka bounced back from the bitter memories back home to surprise Pakistan 2-0 in Tests in UAE.