We all want to save the Test match: Dimuth Karunaratne

The Indian team has Sri Lanka on the mat once again having posted 622/9 Virat Kohli decided to declare the innings and in the 20 overs they bowled for in the last part of the day Ravichandran Ashwin gave them two blows with just 50 runs off from the arrears. After Upul Tharanga walked back with a duck in the second over of the innings Dimuth Karunaratne played through the first line of attack but couldn’t play out the day as Ashwin foxed him in the 14th over.

The Indian ace spinner had rattled him with turn and bounce early on and then drew him forward on a full delivery to drive. But the ball drifted in the air and turned after pitching to take the outside edge and Ajinkya Rahane at first slip would’ve taken it even in sleep. After the end of the day’s play, Karunaratne stated that the wicket will turn even more as the match progresses.

“You will see more turn and bounce than we were seeing on the first day. Because of the ball’s hardness, you will get turn and bounce. Maybe after the hardness is gone it will be easy to bat later on,” the Lankan opener said.

Indians are very smart

He praised the Indians for their batting strategies and not letting them get away even with defensive fields.

“There was help in the wicket you have to admit that. In Galle, though there wasn’t much in the wicket, it was the way Shikhar Dhawan batted took the game away from us. We had to go to defensive fields. We can’t attack when two fours are being hit in an over. They [Indians] are very smart when we adopt defensive approach they work the singles,” Karunaratne added.

After posting their second 600+ total in consecutive matches the Indian team will want to impose another win and the Lankans, on the other hand, are already thinking about saving the match. The 29-year-old feels once the ball wears out, the bowlers will not find as much purchase from the wicket.

“We all want to save the Test match. In the first 10-15 overs with the ball’s hardness it is not easy to bat. After the hardness is gone I think the help is not there for the spinners,” he stated.

We have to play positively

“Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis batted really well in the last few overs. We have to play positively. We have to play more sweep and reverse sweep shots. Last time when we played in Galle, Chandi [Chandimal] scored 160-odd runs. A lot of his runs came off the sweep and reverse sweep. I think that will be key,” the left-hander further added.

In his view, the Sri Lankan batters should focus on capitalising the loose balls and be wary of Ravi Ashwin who he terms a good spinner. “You have to play one ball at a time. It’s not easy. He’s [Ashwin] a good spinner. He has variations. When I was batting I was playing for the straighter one. It’s turning a lot. You can play for both the turn and straighter one,” Karunaratne said.

“I’m trying to play more balls from him, because if I batted a long time he will try to do something else and we can capitalise on the loose balls. That was my target when I was batting against Ashwin,” he concluded.