Need to rectify mistakes: Tharanga
Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga admitted that a poor approach in batting did the team in after India inflicted a 5-0 series rout at the Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.
Sri Lanka lost the Test series 3-0, the first series sweep by an Indian team away from home, and then suffered a similar fate in the ODIs. Upul Tharanga returned after missing two games due a ban for his team’s slow over-rate.
“I have to admit as a team we weren’t up to the mark. The Test series was a huge disappointment and then we failed in the ODIs as well,” he told a media conference after the final ODI loss.
“When we lose, the fans move away from us. They would like to see us winning. We all want to win games, but there are mistakes that happen.
“(But) we need the backing of the fans. The nation has to back us. We need to rectify our mistakes and move forward.”
Tharanga said an ODI team will struggle even if it is weak in one aspect, but conceded Sri Lanka were weak in all three departments.
“We committed too many mistakes. As a batting unit we failed to post decent totals. Even after five games we failed to post 250 runs even once. I’m disappointed with that.
“These batting displays are worrying. Even today we could have made about 270 or 275. We were well placed, but like in the last few games we collapsed. We lost some seven wickets for 53 runs. That has been something that is happening frequently now.
“In ODIs, even if you fail in one department it is very difficult to compete.”
Tharanga said his inexperienced players had plenty to learn from India skipper Virat Kohli.
“The whole series and prior to that we have spoken about it. Virat is an experienced player. We can learn a lot from him. In ODIs, one of the top four batters need to make a century, only then can we get something like 280 or 300.
“Most of our players have played less than 30 matches. That’s something that you gain with experience. Kohli’s batting was a good example for us.”