While Team India’s management has reiterated throughout the ongoing series against Sri Lanka that they see this series as a preparation one for the upcoming tour of South Africa, Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal does not seem too impressed.
The 28-year old, while taking a dig at India’s claims, said the nature of the Nagpur pitch for the second Test and the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch for the third and final Test had surprised him after India insisted that they are preparing for the South Africa series.
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Before the second Test in Nagpur, India skipper Virat Kohli had stated the team-management asked the pitches to be made pacer-friendly in order to get the players ready for the South Africa tour.
“…unfortunately we get only two days before we fly to South Africa after this series gets over. So we have no choice but try to be in a game situation and think of what’s coming ahead of us,” Kohli had said. “Had we got a month off ideally, we would have done a proper preparation in a camp sort of scenario, but we have to sort of make do with what we have.”
Kohli’s comments had come after the first Test at the Eden Gardens that saw the pacers making merry on a green top. However, the pitch in Nagpur was of different nature, as Pacers did not have much of an impact in the game. India had gone on to score a mammoth 610 in the first innings while spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja had picked up 13 of the 20 Sri Lankan wickets which fell.
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And perhaps that convinced Chandimal to say:
“I am not sure they are preparing for South Africa.”
“I am surprised they are saying they are preparing for South Africa, but they are giving these pitches. If you look at the wicket here (Kotla), I am not sure they are preparing for South Africa! It looks like a Nagpur pitch. The Kolkata pitch was similar to South African pitches, but these two are not like that. We never underestimate any team, and we need to give our best,” he added.
Many feel the constant mention of South Africa series throughout the series is disrespecting for Sri Lanka. When asked about that, Chandimal said:
“They are thinking about the next series but we as a team are thinking about this series, and we are thinking about each and every game. About how we can win. We can’t control what they think. As a team, we can control what we can control.”
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