Ruthless India aim to flatten Sri Lanka Officials bully hapless coach
GOING FOR KILL After Dambulla win, India in with chance to wrap up ODI series in Pallekele itself POTHAS EVEN BLAMED THE MEDIA FOR PUTTING A “SPIN” OF HIS PREVIOUS STATEMENT AND THAT HE HAD NO ISSUES WITH THE SRI LANKAN BOARD.
tion in disarray gives Kohli and the team management another chance to fine-tune with the 2019 World Cup the target.
India will be high on confidence returning to a venue where they clinched the final Test in three days to achieve their firstever Test series sweep away from home. Besides, they also won the only ODI they played in Pallekele, which is just off Kandy.
Sri Lanka, who have barely competed against India on this tour and lost the Test series 0-3, are under pressure on three fronts. They have to win two matches in the five-game series if they are to pip West Indies and claim the eighth direct spot for the World Cup by the September 30 deadline.
Kohli’s aim before the series was to give players opportunities and test others in specific roles. Among batsmen, Rohit Sharma will look to make amends for his early run out in Dambulla while in-form KL Rahul, who didn’t get to bat in that game, will be eager to get a hit.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya is very much a work in progress as an ODI pace bowler and could continue to open the bowling. India will need all the pacers to be fit and ready to go in the next few months. And even Shardul Thakur would hope to get a game in the series.
Sri Lanka ODI skipper Upul Tharanga was hopeful his team will somehow find a way out and hinted there could be some changes in the line-up. Sri Lankan batsmen were guilty of playing rash shots, leaving their under-cooked bowling unit with just 216 to defend.
“As a team I have faith in the players… We were in a good position at one stage in the first ODI but unfortunately we collapsed.”
Tharanga acknowledged a direct World Cup spot was in danger. “As a team, we go to each match to win. We are not thinking too far. Tomorrow’s contest is vital for us because we lost the first. To qualify for the 2019 World Cup, we have to win two matchesand all the players are aware of it.”
Sri Lankan cricket, in crisis with the national team plunging from one low to another, scrambled on Wednesday to limit the public relations disaster that followed the defeat in the first ODI in Dambulla on Sunday.
Team’s interim coach, Nic Pothas had blasted the current set-up following the nine-wicket defeat at Dambulla saying “too many cooks” were responsible for the current plight of the national team, which was also routed 3-0 in the Test series.
However, on Wednesday, Sri Lanka Cricket took the drastic step of asking Pothas to issue a statement at the press conference ahead of the second ODI to be played here on Thursday.
Pothas this time said everything was fine with the team set-up and the processes put in place would pull Sri Lanka out of the rut. He even blamed the media for putting a “spin” to his previous statement and that he had no issues with the Sri Lankan cricket board.
His comments were in contrast to those made on Sunday. He had said the players suffered because there were too many people meddling in selection and decision-making. Stalwarts of the 1996 World Cup triumph, Sanath Jayasuriya (chief selector) and Asanka Gurusinha (cricket manager), play influential roles.
“We will start off with a statement from the coach, and then a statement from the captain before we go to the Q & A,” announced Vrai Raymond, SLC’s media head. “We would like to limit it to tomorrow’s match and nothing else.”
With ODI skipper, Upul Tharanga, seated beside him, Pothas said: “We are in good shape at the moment. The boys are in very good spirits. As I mentioned before, we are focused on the processes and procedures which will stand us in good stead in the future. That future will take time as we have stated before.” Mahela Jayawardene feels the fear of failure is impeding the growth of the Sri Lankan team. “I feel the team’s confidence is low. The fear of failure factor has come out. They don’t look confident, they don’t look hungry enough in the middle. They need to address that and find solutions very quickly,” Jayawardene told Cricinfo.