Dilruwan Perera will be very disappointed, says SL bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake

Sri Lanka have had a tough day in the office during the first day of the third Test match against India at the Feroz Shah Kotla. On a batsman’s paradise, the Sri Lankan bowlers struggled to put a lid on the Indian batsmen, especially Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli who played expertly to wear down the Lankan bowling armoury.

Lakshan Sandakan, left-arm chinaman bowler, nipped out a couple of wickets at the fag end of the day. However, for the chunk of the 90 overs, India got the Lankan bowlers by the scruff of the neck. Quite rightly, Sri Lankan bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake expressed his disappointment on the lacklustre bowling display in the press conference. “Everybody knows that Indian batsmen are at a different level but having said that, it’s not an excuse”.

Ratnayake also came down hard on off-spinner Dilruwan Perera who has recently surpassed Muttiah Muralitharan to become the fastest to 100 Test wickets. “Although he has got 100 wickets, he will be very disappointed with the manner in which he bowled in some of the spells. The bowlers have given India 70 runs too many in my view,” said the bowling coach according to quotes on Deccan Chronicle.

He also remarked that Sandakan was unable to gather enough confidence to dish out the wrong urns. “Sandakan should have been bringing in the googly much earlier into play and that’s one of the things we spoke at tea and which he did only at the end (got Vijay and Rahane). So we were asking why he didn’t bring it on more. It might be a confidence issue but we will certainly discuss.”

A tough day ahead for Lanka

With Virat Kohli on the verge of his sixth double century in Tests, Sri Lanka will have to bowl out of their skins. Dinesh Chandimal and co have to shed the disappointment of the opening day and fire on all cylinders if they are to restrict India from posting a mammoth score.