Dinesh Chandimal demands more from Sri Lankan spinners

What's the story?

Sri Lankan Test skipper Dinesh Chandimal expressed his disappointment with the performances of the experienced spin duo of Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera during the second Test loss to India at the SSC Ground in Colombo.

While the Indian spin pair of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin picked up 14 wickets helping the visitors to a resounding victory by a margin of an innings and 53 runs, the Sri Lankan spin combination of Herath, Perera, and Malinda Pushpakumara collectively conceded 457 for 7 much to the disappointment of the Sri Lankan skipper.

"At the moment we have in attack two experienced bowlers - Rangana Herath and Dilruwann Perera. We had a wicket that turned and we expected them to come, into the game. But we couldn't execute those plans," Chandimal said.

In case you didn't know....

With Sri Lanka's loss within four days at Colombo, the hosts have already lost the 3-match series after their loss in the opening Test at Galle by a margin of 304 runs.

India have been the dominant side throughout the series and though Sri Lanka put up some fight in the second innings here at Colombo, it was still not enough to avoid an innings loss.

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The heart of the matter

While Sri Lanka's first innings was a big disappointment with the hosts managing only 183 runs on the board in reply to India's mammoth total of 622, centuries by Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis saw the hosts score a more respectable 386 in their second innings.

Chandimal revealed that the team management had held a discussion about how to counter the Indian spin threat after Virat Kohli had enforced the follow on. He added that the ploy to play the sweep and reverse sweep shots was a calculated one and expressed his joy that the plan was executed well by the batsman.

It was the performance of the spinners though that left the Sri Lankan skipper disappointed as he felt the pitch was offering much help to the bowlers and that his players simply failed to take advantage of that fact.

He was especially hard on the duo of Rangana Herath and Dilruwann Perera but admitted that winning against the World's No 1 ranked Test side is going to take some doing.

What's next?

While the series may have been lost, Sri Lanka will be hoping to give their fans something to cheer about with a consolation victory in the third Test which begins at Pallekele on August 12.

The hosts will be pleased by the news that India's match winner in the second Test - Ravindra Jadeja - will be suspended for the match after reaching a total of six demerit points within a 24-month period as per ICC's Code of Conduct for players.

Author's take

With the manner of defeat in the Colombo Test, it is understandable that the Sri Lankan skipper was disappointed with the performance of his bowlers. But it is a little harsh on the spinners considering the fact that they were bowling in the first two days of the match.

The pitch became helpful later on and also the fact that this Indian team is superior to Sri Lanka in all respects is something which needs to be considered.