‘We played like a family’: Chandimal

• Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal said he hoped his team’s T20I series victory over Bangladesh was a sign of good things to come

Dinesh Chandimal was in buoyant mood after his team dominated the second T20I against Bangladesh in Sylhet, wrapping up a 2-0 series victory and completing a productive tour overall. 

Kusal Mendis starred with the bat, hitting 70 to surpass his career-best score in the format for the second game in succession, before a disciplined performance in the field ensured a comfortable victory by 75 runs. It capped an impressive tour of Bangladesh for Sri Lanka, which also saw them recover from a poor start to win the ODI tri-series and triumph in the two-match Test series.  “It’s been a really good series as a team,” said Sri Lanka’s captain. “We lost the first two ODIs, really badly. We picked ourselves up after that. We didn’t play like a team, we played like a family. So finally results came through. Last year was tough, so this is a really good start. I hope the boys do their best moving forward – we have a good combo of young and old.”

Chandimal also congratulated Mendis on consecutive Player of the Match awards, with the right-hander only added to the squad following an injury to Kusal Perera. “It’s a tough call, how Kusal Perera comes back [he said laughing]. Mendis batted really well. We thought he can carry the bat through his innings, and he did.”

Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah said that while his side produced a poor performance with the ball, he still thought Sri Lanka’s total of 210/4 was within their reach given a better batting display. “It was a score that I felt we could chase, but for that we needed a good start,” he said. “But we kept losing wickets and didn’t get any momentum.

“I guess we didn’t bowl well, too. The wicket was good to bat on. Not much for the spinners either. If we would’ve stopped them at 180-odd, then we could’ve chased it down. We need to sit together ahead of the Nidahas Trophy [the T20I tri-series also featuring India to be played in Sri Lanka in March] and figure out how we can chase 180, and how our bowlers can keep the damage low. Shakib [Al Hasan] is a champion player, so we missed him with both ball and bat. Special congratulations to the Sri Lanka team for how they played.” 

(www.icc-cricket.com)