Rumesh Ratnayake: Extra batsman included to strengthen SL batting

Sri Lanka’s bowling coach admitted the move to play seven batsmen could be looked upon as defensive.

Lakshan Sandakan’s googlies were of value to the Sri Lankan team.

Sri Lanka bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake admitted the team had no choice but to play with seven batsmen.

“We had to decide whether to go with the extra bowler or with an extra batsman. Since we had not done well in our batting we wanted to make a better statement and establish a better score. If we were going to bat the first day we were to have those seven batsmen. It certainly taxes the opening bowlers because they are the ones who bowled the most in the last game also,” Ratnayake said.

Report: Kohli, Vijay punish listless Lanka

He added, “We had gone with 6-5 combination in the past, so we thought that we should try something different and go with 7-4. Hope it works. Yes, you can say it was defensive.”

Sandakan ‘next in line’

In Ratnayake’s view, chinaman Lakshan Sandakan, who claimed two wickets in the closing stages of the day’s play, was the best replacement for left-arm spinner Rangana Herath. “Rangana is our leading wicket taker. We do miss him a lot. We had to bring Sandakan in because of the fact that he is next in line and we saw a glimpse of what he can do at the end. I wish it had come two sessions earlier.

Read: Bangar defends opening pair shuffle

“Sandakan should have been bringing the googly much earlier and that’s one of the things we spoke at tea and which he did only at the end. He is comfortable with his normal chinaman but the googly is the thing that might trouble the batsmen.”