We were more positive after lunch: Niroshan Dickwella

Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella was very impressed with the way the Sri Lankan batters executed their plans on the third day of the second Test against India. Team India had mustered a huge total on the board with 622 runs to their credit. In response, the hosts crashed to 183 in the first innings. After being asked to follow on, the Sri Lankan batsmen showed more application to give some resistance against the dominating Indian bowlers.

They ended the day with 209/2 to their name. Batsman Kusal Mendis lead the show with a century to his name. Dimuth Karunaratne is still at the crease on an unbeaten 92. As per the recent PTI reports, Niroshan Dickwella reflected back at the day’s play and expressed his satisfaction with the way the batsmen showed resistance. He noted that the key to their success in the second innings was their plan of hitting sweeps and reverse sweeps.

“We weren’t good in the first session. We had plans before the second innings started, on how to handle spin and how to handle pressure, how to play the new ball, etc. It was a long meeting during the lunch break and we executed those plans very well,” quoted Niroshan Dickwella.

On his fighting fifty

He further remarked that the players were much more relaxed towards the latter stages of the day. Talking about his knock in the first innings, Dickwella had no regrets. He top scored in the innings with 51 to his name. He quoted that he was happy with the way he played and he backed himself to play the sweep shots.

“We didn’t handle the situation properly early on. We should have settled down a bit, but we didn’t. We could have settled down like in the evening session. We were more positive after lunch. I played my normal game. I swept about 80 per cent of my shots. We were training hard on sweeps and reverse sweeps. Hashan Tillakaratne and other coaches are specifically speaking about the sweep shots and encouraging us to do that. We are improving with the sweeps,” said Dickwella.