What did Chandimal say after his nation suffered a whitewash?

Dinesh
Dinesh Chandimal looked very disappointed after Sri Lanka’s 3-0 whitewash. Image Source: twitter

Internet Desk: After getting all-out for just 135 in the first innings of the third and final Test, the hosts Sri Lanka again failed to score big in the second innings as they could only manage to score 181. Virat Kohli led Indian cricket team won the match convincingly by an innings and 171 runs to complete a 3-0 whitewash at Kandy today. After this thumping loss Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal lauded the performance of the Indian team and said that India have played outstandingly well in the series.

“It’s pretty tough for me and the team. Credit goes to India. They have played outstandingly well in the series. I am disappointed that if we could have dragged the game to the fifth day we could have learnt something, but losing within two and half days you cannot give any excuses,” said Chandimal.

On being asked about the team’s batting failure throughout the series, Chandimal added, ”During training too we are doing lot of hard work. We had some game plan and we spoke so many things during the game. As a player when you have to go to the middle you have to put them to practice. That was what the batters were unable to do. As players we had to stand up and do our performances well.”

“I would say the main concern is injuries. The Australia series we had everyone fit. No injuries whatsoever. Everyone chipped in. This series, there are so many injuries starting from Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Rangana Herath and then Asela Gunaratne. They played some really good cricket in the last six months. That’s the main issue. I don’t want to give excuses. We have to perform better than this.”

The senior players of the team didn’t perform well in the series. According to Chandimal consistency is the key for success and he is hopeful that his team will come back strongly when they will face Pakistan.  “Consistency has been a huge issue this series. As I said, some players cannot perform well in every series. As seniors, you have to do well. Then the youngsters will follow. I have a lot of faith. The seniors I hope will come back strongly when we take on Pakistan,” said Chandimal.

Chandimal admitted that Hardik Pandya batting and Shami’s brilliant bowling were the key factors of India’s win in the third Test. “Hardik batted brilliantly when he came out to the middle. The first spell by Shami and Umesh was brilliant. At one point we thought as if we were playing in England. They bowled so well making most of the conditions.”

Former Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews and Chandimal both are not scoring big for their side, which his hurting the team very much. Chandimal too is very disappointed with their performance.

“It is really very disappointing that we are not getting the runs. We take the blame. But we tried hard. We worked hard at training. We tried hard. Bad luck was that all seniors failed. I hope that everyone will fire in the next series hopefully,” concluded Chandimal.