Kusal Perera admits Sri Lanka is struggling to pick Indian wrist spinners

The explosive batsman of Sri Lanka Kusal Perera has admitted that his team is struggling against the wrist spinners of India. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal shared seven wickets between them in the second T20I which sucked the momentum out of the Lankan innings. India hammered Sri Lanka by a whopping 88 runs in the game and also sealed the series with one game to go. However, Perera felt that the batsmen could have done a lot better in pursuit of 261 on a flat track in Indore.

Holkar Stadium was treated to one of the best T20 knocks by Rohit Sharma who smashed the joint fastest ton in the format at the international level. He levelled with David Miller who plundered Bangladesh earlier this year to achieve the remarkable feat. Rohit was absolutely belligerent in his shot-making and smashed 118 runs in just 43 balls as Team India scored a monumental 260 runs after being invited to bat first.

Kuldeep’s wickets changed the game

Kusal Perera was the highest scorer in the Sri Lankan innings who scored 77 off just 34 deliveries and at one stage also threatened to gun down the target. The visitors were 145/1 after 13 overs and then unravelled like a pack of cards to get bowled out for 172. Perera believed that the three wickets of Kuldeep in a single over took the momentum away from them. He also praised the spinning-duo of the Indian cricket who have bamboozled the batsmen throughout the home season.

“They are bowling really well and generally the wrist-spinners with their variations are hard to pick. But this wicket offered very little for the bowlers and was excellent for batting and we could have done better. We tried to capitalize with fours and sixes. We didn’t want too many dot balls. We tried to hit out and ended up losing too many wickets. Kuldeep took three wickets in an over. The momentum went away from us at that moment and we never recovered,” he told reporters during the post-match conference.

Though the 27-year-old defended his captain’s decision to send India in after winning the toss. “We have to back our strengths. We have good batsmen, but Rohit and KL Rahul were brilliant with that partnership. We tried to back ourselves and play to our best when batting, but it didn’t go our way. Winning and losing are part of the game. We try to learn from what we did wrong. As a team we are trying to improve. We have to think of our batting and how we can do things better.” Talking about his own explosive innings on comeback,” Perera added.

On a personal front, however, this was a great game for Kusal as he plundered runs and looked like he has found his old mojo. “I backed myself. It was very pleasing to get going after a long injury lay off. I believe in my ability. However, your individual performances don’t matter and you have to think of the team winning and that’s what counts,” he concluded.