Upul Tharanga wants the batsmen to play responsibly

Sri Lankan captain, Upul Tharanga, has urged them to play responsibly against the dominant Indian team in the second ODI at Pallekele. Sri Lanka threw away from a comfortable position, having scored 139 for the loss of 1 wicket and slid down to 216 all out in the first One-Day International on Sunday.

The skipper also appealed to his top order to make it big once they are settled. Sri Lankan batsmen gave away promising starts as Niroshan Dickwella scored 64, Danushka Gunathilaka got 35 and Kusal Mendis had 36 runs in his account before getting out. If one of them had stayed there, India would have been chasing a score around 300.

“To get to a big total we need the top four batsmen to fire. One or two of them must make a big score. That’s what we have seen in the past 10-15 years. If a player gets a century then we can put up a good total between 280-300,” Tharanga said at the pre-match press conference. He also conceded that the team has lost the matches frequently from a good position.

“What I expect from the batsmen is once they have settled in, they should bat the entire innings and take us to a decent total. If you look at the past results we have been in good positions in the first 20-25 overs. From there onwards only we have lost the grip as batsmen played irresponsible shots,” said the left hander.

Denied the dressing room rift

He also used the opportunity to deny the speculations of any rift in the dressing room. It had also been reported that the omission of Dinesh Chandimal from ODI squad has divided the dressing room but the captain was of the opinion that the team is in good spirit.

“It was our bad luck we could not win the first ODI. But all the players are in good spirits because we have been preparing for this series well ahead of time. I have faith in the players that for the second ODI they will come up with a much better performance,” Tharanga added.

The 32-year-old once again urged the fans to support his team and said they give their 100 percent as a team on the field. “Every time the fans have been behind us when we won or lost. As a team, all I can say is that we go out 100 percent to win the match. None of the 15 players in the squad go out to lose a match. We expect their support because that is the one that gives us strength and encouragement to perform well,” he said.

When asked about Lasith Malinga’s performance, he hailed the veteran and said his presence in the dressing room is the big boost to the young fast bowlers.

“Every cricketer goes through this phase. He has returned to ODI cricket after being out for about 18 months. But since his return, he has been unable to produce those match winning performances mainly because catches have been dropped off his bowling. But his presence in the team is a big boon to the young fast bowlers who can learn a lot from him,” the optimistic skipper concluded.