SL want to bat as long as possible

Sri Lanka’s belief to trump Bangladesh’s healthy score helped them take the baton of the first Test finally, said the team’s batting coach Thilan Samaraweera. Sri Lanka cut Bangladesh’s lead to just nine runs, after ending the third day on 504 for three. With seven wickets at hands, they are now in position to push for a victory. However Samaraweera said they are not thinking about lead at this moment as their only target is to bat as long as possible in a bid to bat Bangladesh entirely out from the Test.

“We are not thinking about the lead. We want to bat as long as possible. We want to firstly bat till lunch on the fourth day, and then see what happens,” said Samaraweera.

“I think full credit goes to the two batters – Dhananjaya and Kusal Mendis – after we lost an early wicket. They put on a 300-run partnership,” he said showering praise on the duo who actually took the game away from the hosts. Sri Lanka indeed got some good partnership that made the difference. After the 308-run partnership between Mendia and De Silva, the former shared 107-run with Roshen Silva. After Mendis’s dismissal, Roshen added an undefeated 89 runs with captain Dinesh Chandimal.

Samaraweera stressed upon the needs to keep building partnership.

“The first two hours is important tomorrow. We have to keep building partnerships. We have to bat normally because 180 is a lot of overs. We have three quality spinners. After Bangladesh made 513 runs, we told the team that we should keep batting. Those two players set the tone, especially after losing the in-form man (Karunaratne) from last year,” he said. He however felt for Mendis who for the second time was denied to have the maiden double century.

“I think he is so disappointed. The bigger picture is that if he had scored those two double-hundreds, it would have been very special for a 23-year old. We want him to give him every opportunity. We believe he has a lot of ability, which is why we put him in the opening position. More tactically, he is very good against spin.”

SL want to bat as long as possible

Sri Lankas belief to trump Bangladeshs healthy score helped them take the baton of the first Test finally, said the teams batting coach Thilan Samaraweera. Sri Lanka cut Bangladeshs lead to just nine runs, after ending the third day on 504 for three. With seven wickets at hands, they are now in position to push for a victory. However Samaraweera said they are not thinking about lead at this moment as their only target is to bat as long as possible in a bid to bat Bangladesh entirely out from the Test. We are not thinking about the lead. We want to bat as long as possible. We want to firstly bat till lunch on the fourth day, and then see what happens, said Samaraweera. I think full credit goes to the two batters Dhananjaya and Kusal Mendis after we lost an early wicket. They put on a 300-run partnership, he said showering praise on the duo who actually took the game away from the hosts. Sri Lanka indeed got some good partnership that made the difference. After the 308-run partnership between Mendia and De Silva, the former shared 107-run with Roshen Silva. After Mendiss dismissal, Roshen added an undefeated 89 runs with captain Dinesh Chandimal. Samaraweera stressed upon the needs to keep building partnership. The first two hours is important tomorrow. We have to keep building partnerships. We have to bat normally because 180 is a lot of overs. We have three quality spinners. After Bangladesh made 513 runs, we told the team that we should keep batting. Those two players set the tone, especially after losing the in-form man (Karunaratne) from last year, he said. He however felt for Mendis who for the second time was denied to have the maiden double century. I think he is so disappointed. The bigger picture is that if he had scored those two double-hundreds, it would have been very special for a 23-year old. We want him to give him every opportunity. We believe he has a lot of ability, which is why we put him in the opening position. More tactically, he is very good against spin.