Sri Lanka team manager Gurusinha showers praise on Chandimal, Herath

Team Sri Lanka registered a much needed win in the first Test against Pakistan recently. Albeit the match did not have any drastic consequence in terms of the rankings, the result did a world of good for team Sri Lanka. They arrived on the tour riding on 9 consecutive losses against India. Team manager Asanka Gurusinha is a much relieved man after the win.

As per the quotes in Cricbuzz, Gurusinha lauded the efforts of the team for the herculean effort. He looked particularly pleased with the way skipper Dinesh Chandimal played. He also had his words of praise reserved for veteran bowler Rangana Herath and batsman Niroshan Dickwella. Speaking about Chandimal, he mentioned that the knock he played in the first innings, a score of 155, was a captain’s knock indeed that led from the front.

“That’s a real Test innings and a captain’s knock. It’s not just occupying the crease, but the way he batted and the way he built partnerships with a couple of players to get us to that score was remarkable. He led from the front and that is the leadership that we are looking from Chandi and he is giving us tenfold,” quoted Gurusinha.

On Rangana Herath

It was the wise old man Rangana Herath who scripted Sri Lanka’s win by bowling a match-winning spell in the second innings. Bagging six wickets on the final day of the Test match in a winning cause is something that he has done many times in his career. Gurusinha feels the team is lucky to have him despite the age factor running out.

“I knew he will give everything he’s got. His kind of character is very rare in a lot of teams these days. We are lucky that we have him. He might give us another year, but let’s see,” he quoted.

On Niroshan Dickwella

Commenting on Niroshan Dickwella, who had performed reasonably well against India as well, the team manager noted that the management had a good long conversation with him before arriving in the UAE. Dickwella has been getting constant starts but has failed to convert them to big scores. The team now expects him to go out all guns blazing and get that coveted big score under his belt soon.

“We had a nice long chat with Niroshan in Colombo. We told him that he is immensely talented and an important cog in the wheel. He threw away his wicket against India so many times but still he scored lot of runs. We wanted him to score those big runs as he is very capable of doing it. He changed his mindset and worked hard with our coaches Hashan Tillakaratne and Nic Pothas. Then he came up with his own plans. He is much focussed, keen to achieve and knows that he has a bright future ahead of him. He is showing maturity,” mentioned the Sri Lanka team manager.

On the turning point for the team

It is a very well known fact that the Sri Lanka team were in dire straits prior to the commencement of this series. When asked to cite the turning point for the team that worked wonders for them in the Test, Gurusinha mentioned that the team environment has been very cordial and the management has shown great faith in the players.

“It is difficult to pinpoint exactly where it started to go right, but the pre-tour five-day program which we put together went on very well. The first thing we wanted to have was a stable environment so that players are not going to the middle thinking will I play the next match. We spoke to the players individually and things are clicking,” Gurusinha concluded.