Sri Lanka vs India 2017 – India Wont Find It Easy – Sri Lankan Team Manager
Jul 26, 2017 at 4:03 PM
As India take on Sri Lanka in their own den, the visitors will be well aware of the host’s strengths at home. The absence of legends such as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene might have dented Sri Lanka’s progress as a Test side, but by no means does that negate their home strength and advantage.
Sri Lanka’s current team manager and former wicketkeeper Asanka Gurusinha, a veteran of over 100 ODI’s and 40 Tests, feels that the visitors won’t have it everything going their way on the tour. The last time India toured Sri Lanka, the young outfit created history by winning the series, their first in that part of the globe in over 22 years.
“The ball tends to move around a bit in the first two hours of play in these conditions here. So if one plays like in a T20 game then a batsman is bound to get out caught in the slips. That’s where the commitment and focus from a batsman needs to come through,” said Gurusinha, in a chat with Mid Day.
Mentioning that India was a daunting outfit indeed, he said,
“It is a very strong and experienced batting line-up. It is not going to be easy for any side, not just Sri Lanka. One has to come with really good plans and then execute them in the middle, which is the most important thing. If you come up with plans but don’t execute it, then it is not going to help. My team is ready now.”
Commenting on the influence of T20 on Test cricket, Gurusinha said,
“I think the game has changed a lot with the advent of T20 cricket. Players now are very aggressive from the start. Modern-day cricketers play so much cricket and in high-pressure situations. In our days, if we got 50 or 60 runs in one session, it was a big thing. Nowadays, they get 200-plus easily in the first session, and that’s why the scores are going beyond 300 in a day,” he added.