This Was An Unplayable Wicket And We Did Not Expect This: Thisara Perera

A shocking batting performance by the Indian batting order saw Sri Lanka end their 12-match losing streak and secure an emphatic seven-wicket at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. An early start along with lateral movement on offer saw the Lankan seamers rock the Indian batting order as the first five batsmen departed for single digit scores. However, the nature of the strip on offer took Lankan captain Thisara Perera by surprise as he deemed it as an unplayable pitch.

Speaking at the post-match-presentation Lankan captain Thisara Perera said, “We need to give 200 percent credit to our bowlers; they did everything right for us, bowling in the right lines and length. Their discipline was excellent and that was the reason for our success.”

Criticizing the nature of the pitch, he added, “This is an unplayable wicket, we did not expect this. We thought around 250-260 but when we were bowling itself we realized that we had to keep them under 220. I thought Lakmal did perfectly for us in the Test series and now is carrying it forward in the ODIs. He’s the number one fast bowler for us at the moment.”

Reflecting on the dismal performance, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said, “Two games to go, but having said that we weren’t up to the mark today. Just not enough runs on the board but the bowlers came out there and did whatever they could. Had we had 70-80 runs more we could have had a game on our hands. It is important that we as a team thrive on conditions such as these and come out good. Not every day will we get flat tracks and today was a good learning curve. You need to understand your game and come out of such situations.”

Admitting that the match at Dharamsala was an eye-opener Sharma said, “We need to regroup and do well.”  Lauding MS Dhoni for his application in the middle, the stand-in-skipper added, “He’s (Dhoni) done it for so many years and he knows what exactly needs to be done in such conditions. Someone with him could have made the difference and I am not at all surprised by the way he played. He was the only one battling it out. There was something in the pitch even when we were bowling but 113 was just not going to be enough. Not such a great experience of losing the first match as a captain – nobody likes losing games and we need to focus on the next two games and come out hard.”

Courtesy : indianexpress