India Vs Sri Lanka: Losing Is Okay But We Have To At Least Come Close, Says Upul Tharanga

India were on top of their in the first T20I against Sri Lanka and completed a thumping win over the visitors. Sri Lanka, apart from their win the first ODI in Dharamsala, have been struggling in the limited-overs encounters and Wednesday was another example how difficult the going has been for them. After yet another batting letdown, Sri Lanka batsman Upul Tharanga said that the main thing was their disappointing batting.

“The main thing is that we are disappointed with the batting,” Tharanga said after the game. “In the bowling as well, I think we started really well, we did well in the middle period, in the death overs we gave too many boundary balls and then the momentum shifted to their side.”

Sri Lanka put India into bat after winning the toss and bowled a few loose deliveries towards the end of the innings as India scaled to 180 for the loss of three wickets. This wasn’t an out-of-reach total but Sri Lanka did not show any fight in the chase and crumbled to 87 all out which Tharanga admitted was concerning.

“Yes, it’s definitely concerning,” he noted. “When we came here from Sri Lanka, the main thing was to compete. Very disappointed with the way we batted, at least we should bat the 20 overs, losing is okay but we have to at least come close to the target.”

Tharanga, who made 23 runs, was pleased that he could contribute to the team’s total though it came in a defeat. He revealed that he had worked with batting coach Thilan Samaraweera to improve certain aspects of his game. “I’ve played with Thilan for many years in my career,” Tharanga said about Samarweera’s role. “When I came into the side, he was the senior guy and he helped me a lot.

“When he saw me batting first time in the nets, after the session got over, he came to me and asked why I changed my foot movements and he said I didn’t bat like this few years ago. I told him I didn’t change much but it just happened. Then he worked with me, with my new batting stance. After that, I did well and the credit goes to Thilan,” he added.

Courtesy : indianexpress