Disappointed but still hopeful Dinesh Chandimal

After having lost 10 of their 13 completed T20Is this year, the Lankans were given a complete hammering when the English bowled them out within a span of two days. Dinesh Chandimal, who was the custodian of the vanquished Lankans however, reiterated the fact that the visiting islanders could indeed reverse their fortunes. Earlier, skipper Angelo Mathews had conceded that they were ‘embarrassed and humiliated’.

“We are of course disappointed, but I think we’re in a good place,” he said. “We train hard and pick each other up. Our fitness is also being looked after. What’s important to us is get a win or two. If we can get those wins soon, I think we will have that confidence that we need to carry on doing that. We are a young team and maybe we especially need that momentum because of that. We’re all working very hard. I’m hopeful the victories will start from the next match.”

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In both the home and away series in Test matches, the Lankans have had some difficulty in finding the right balance between attack and defense. The lack of balance saw many of them invariably edging the ball to the slips.

“Almost every ball the English quicks bowled was what was needed at the time,” Chandimal said. “They are a very disciplined attack, and when they don’t give many bad balls, it’s important to work out how to keep that temperament and still score runs. If we had been somehow been able to score some runs and give them a good contest, we could have taken some joy from this.”

Speaking about his own performance in the match, Chandimal said: “In the first innings, I came back, looked at the videos and talked with the coach, but it was a very good ball,” he said. “In the second innings, I hadn’t anticipated the turn on that delivery. I think it’s fair to say I played a loose shot and I’m very disappointed by that. But I have confidence in the way I’m hitting the ball these days. Anderson is bowling very well, but there’s no huge difference between this attack and New Zealand’s.

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“Personally, I’d love to get a century every time I play here. That is my vision when I go to a match. I’m always thinking about how I can get to a hundred. Once you spend that time in the middle you learn a lot as well.”

“I don’t think there’s much to change at this stage. Technically I feel as if I am in a good place.”