"Don't ask me how Kusal Mendis who was a reserve player came into the team" -- Dickwella

"Don't ask me how Kusal Mendis who was a reserve player came into the team" -- Dickwella

Opening batsman of Sri Lanka team, Niroshan Dickwella said that fans maintain hopes about the team and that nobody plays to lose a match. He mentioned this at the media discussion held after the onedayer which finished day-before-yesterday (17) night with Sri Lanka playing with England.

Niroshan Dickwella who expressed his opinion further said, "Watching losing a match brins sadness to both the viewers as well as us. At the same time it was difficult to bowl at night-time as such. Though we were 82 runs with 2 wickets down at one stage, suddenly it reversed to a situation where

we were 92 with 4 wickets down. If Thisara was able to face 5 or 6 overs. we may have got 180, 190 runs. It was Thisara's dismissal that caused the debacle. The match being limited to 21 overs clearly was fortunate for us and that is because we were equipped with a strong batting line up. I do not think that the team selected for this game had any influence in losing the game. It is not an easy task to score 150 runs with 21 overs in a match. What I think is that the match was lost because of shortcomings in batsmanship".

At this point, giving his opinion about bringing Kusal Mendis to the team, this is what Dickwella stated, "Don't ask me how Kusal Mendis happened to enter the team being a reserve player ... reason is that I am neither a member of the selection committee nor a coach. Even before the tournament our training was successful. How to bowl out the opposing players had been studied. But the problem is that those points were not put into proper action in a game. Nobody can find fault with us saying that we are not rectifying our shortcomings. After some time we are happy that we had a good start. However the middle order flopped. If all batsmen do not managed to collect some runs ... it is difficult to reap good results.

But anyone watching from outside can say anything. We know that spectators are keeping hopes on us. None of us do not go there in the middle and play to lose ... but of course there are occasions when it is not possible, and there are times when it is possible. But we should accept both victory and defeat. There was no setback on the mental level or training. What we try to do is wriggle out of the defeat we experienced for some time. Let's see ... what can be done in the future".

-- Pethum Sri Wijeyratna --