Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has urged his batsmen to make sharp improvements in their shot selection, ahead of the second Test in Colombo. Sri Lanka had been bowled out for 206 in the third innings, which led to the loss in Galle. Though Sri Lanka were ostensibly attempting to save the match at that stage, three batsmen were out stumped, while two more were caught slog-sweeping to the leg-side fence.
“We don’t want to mourn about the loss too much, but we will try and rectify what went wrong this game,” Mathews said. “We identified a few areas where we need to improve – especially the shot selection. We also discussed how to handle certain situations. It’s a learning curve for all of us. We don’t have Mahela Jayawardenes and Thilan Samaraweeras in the team. We need to stay calm and give opportunities to the youngsters and have faith in them.”
Sri Lanka were largely undone by spin in Galle, having lost 15 of their 20 wickets to Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar and Mohammad Hafeez. Mathews said Sri Lanka would seek to unsettle the spinners by scoring regularly against them, echoing Kaushal Silva’s views on how the slow bowlers may be countered.
“We just have to be positive. We can’t be negative against Yasir and Babar. We always have to look to score runs, not get bogged down against them, and that will give our bowlers a chance. Whether its Yasir, Zulfiqar, Wahab Riaz or Junaid Khan, we always look to score runs and we have plans for them.”
“It’s a different wicket from Galle but it will still turn. You never have a wicket in Sri Lanka that doesn’t turn four of five days. Yasir is a very good bowler and he lands it on the spot more often than not.”
There remains some confusion over Kumar Sangakkara’s retirement, with the batsman not yet having shared definitive details of his career’s last phase. It is unlikely he will play the third Test against Pakistan. Mathews, though, said this uncertainty was not a distraction.
“Kumar is still having discussions with selectors,” he said. “They have not come to a final decision on that. He’s earned the right to decide when and where to go. That is not a disturbance at all to the team. He has rendered a service that no one could do over the past 15 years. I don’t think the impact of the series or how it goes will make an impact on his decision.”
