'Never though it'd be over by Day 3' - Dimuth Karunaratne calls out batters for poor show after crushing loss against India

It was a big occasion for Sri Lankan cricket as the island-nation was playing their 300th Test match in a span of 40 years. But the match against India in Mohali proved to be one-sided as the visitors were hammered by an innings and 222 runs to concede a 0-1 lead in the two-match series.

Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne was shocked by the nature of defeat and pulled up his batters over the outcome. The visitors put up little resistance against the Indian bowling attack and were bowled out twice in 125 overs for 174 and 178, respectively, after India put up a mammoth total of 574 for 8 declared.

While India put up three century stands in their innings, all anchored by Ravindra Jadeja who slammed an unbeaten 175, Sri Lanka’s highest partnership across their two innings was 58, which came between Charith Asalanka and Pathum Nissanka for the fifth wicket in the first innings.

Batters need to bat for long, says Karunaratne

In the post-match presentation, Karunaratne expressed his disappointment over the fact that the match got over in three days. Echoing his India counterpart Rohit Sharma, the visiting captain told host broadcaster Star Sports, “We never thought it would finish by day three. The batters need to put their hands up and bat longer innings. When you are playing against India you have to capitalize on the starts, it was easy to bat on this track, once you get in you have to score big. We backed ourselves (by playing the extra seamer). We thought the wicket would crack open and is going to be up and down.”

“If we had bowled better then we could have restricted them. We were too defensive or too aggressive with the bat, need to get a balance between both by rotating the strike and that’s how you play a big innings. As a batting unit, we have to put our hands up and score big. We did well for the first two sessions but could not execute when the ball got old and those are things we need to work on,” the 33-year-old southpaw who managed 28 and 27 in the match, added. From the toss to the match result, nothing went in favour of the Sri Lankan captain.

It was Sri Lanka’s 10th innings defeat in Tests in India.

The two teams will now play in the second Test, which will be a day-night affair in Bengaluru, starting March 12.