Cannot fault our batsmen for shot selection, says coach Bangar

KOLKATA: Time will tell whether S ur an ga La km al becomes part of Eden Gardens’ folklore in the way Shoaib Akhtar, Kapil Dev, Java ga lS rina th, Lance Kl us en er and Malcolm Marshall have been with memorable spells of pace bowling. But he sure has made the right beginning.

“It is one of the finest (spells) I have seen in a long time,” said Rumesh Ratnayake, Sri Lanka’s bowling coach, after Lakmal, 30, ended the day with 3/0 from six overs on Thursday.

“You can’t really fault our batsmen for shot selections. Credit to him (Lakmal) for putting the ball in the right place,” said Sanjay Bangar, India’s assistant coach after a truncated first day at Eden Gardens saw only 11.5 overs being bowled and India reduced to 17/3.

Given that the batsmen in question were Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, this was fulsome praise from the rival camp. Bangar didn’t mention Shikhar Dhawan by name but defended his attacking instincts. “He is a stroke-player, one who can change the course of a match in 15 overs. You want a player like Shikhar to play in his own fashion; we don’t want to curtail his style of play,” he said.

Yes, the wicket was receptive and the conditions made it a good toss for Sri Lanka to have won but Lakmal made it count by bowling in and around the offstump. On a wicket that offered bounce, he didn’t get carried away but pitched it up. “The advice was simple: push the batsmen back,” said Ratnayake.

There is forecast of more rain but even if there isn’t, Ratnayake felt the freshness of the wicket would last another full day. “The job is not finished,” he said.

Bangar said the conditions were difficult for batting and it was made worse by three interruptions.