All’s well that ends well: Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka and head coach Mickey Arthur share a joke with each other during a practice session at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday

Sri Lanka’s white ball skipper Dasun Shanaka said that he is happy the way his young team is shaping up and was confident that they could turn things around in the third and final ODI against India starting at the R. Premadasa Stadium today.  

“As a team I see a big improvement. The players we’ve selected have played their part and I hope in tomorrow’s (Friday) game they will perform even better,” said Shanaka in a virtual media conference yesterday. 

“We have a good chance if we bat well. If you take the first two ODIs we have totalled 262 and 275, in the next game we must see how we can improve on it. As a team we have planned how we should go about. Today our bowlers had a good practice session with their spot bowling which is important in a match. We have a lot of areas to work on going into a match and I am confident that we will be able to win today’s contest.”

“As captain I have built the confidence of the team, likewise the players also must have belief in themselves that they can do it. I saw a lot of that in the last ODI. I am confident that with that belief we can get the best out of the players. I have a lot of confidence that I can win with this squad of players. We have not won consistently for a long time but we have not forgotten how to win,” Shanaka said.

“If each player understands his role in the team and we execute our plans well we can definitely win. If you take our performances in the first two ODIs we have been improving gradually and if you take the performances from the England series we have been rectifying our mistakes and improving. We are in good shape, we want to finish this series on a high note. I have a great belief that this young side can win.”

Explaining the exchange of words that took place soon after the second ODI with head coach Mickey Arthur on the ground, Shanaka said: “What happened after the match should have taken place inside the dressing room. The coach wanted to know whether we went outside the plans we had discussed before the match. I told him nothing like that happened. There weren’t any harsh words spoken but I only explained to him.”

Shanaka said that fast bowler Kasun Rajitha has been ruled out of today’s game with an injury and that they are not looking at too many changes, but two at the most. (ST)

Lanka play Ireland in T20 World Cup opener