Sri Lanka captain Lasith Malinga said on Friday that the Islanders needed to learn how to handle situations such as the one they faced during the third T20I against India in Pune on Friday. Sri Lanka succumbed to a 78-run loss at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune to lose the three-match series 0-2.
“I think in these kind of situations where the conditions were wet, we need to control the ball better,” Malinga said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Wrist spinners Lakshan Sandakan and Wanindu Hasaranga induced a middle order collapse in the middle overs but Shardul Thakur and Manish Pandey’s late flourish helped India reach 201/6. In reply, Sri Lanka could manage just 123 runs, 68 of which came from a fifth wicket stand between Angelo Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva.
“They got away in the last three overs. But our top-order batsmen got out quickly while Dhananjaya and Mathews showed us how easy it was to bat here. We need to learn how to handle these situations better,” he said.
Malinga said the good show by Hasaranga and Sandakan is something they will be looking to utilise going into the 2020 World T20.
“This is the talent we have in Sri Lanka and we have to back them and get the maximum out of them in the World Cup. All teams in the world are using wrist spinners, and we have good bowlers in Hasaranga and Sandakan. These are the two bowlers we are looking at going into the World T20,” he said.
