Tillakaratne Dilshan has been a wall of solidity for Sri Lanka since the last decade. At the top of the order, he has provided a clear direction for the Sri Lankan team and his numbers are enough to signify his importance at the top of the order. Against Afghanistan at the Eden Gardens, Dilshan was simply lethal as he single-handedly guided Sri Lanka to victory as he remained unbeaten on 83.
After the game, he interacted with the media and said that despite being 39 years old, he was not considering retirement. “If I am batting like this, if I’m playing like this, I don’t think there will be any retirement at the moment. I’m really enjoying my cricket still. I’ve not decided anything yet on retirement. “I’m enjoying my cricket, and will try to give the maximum to my country. That’s the main target,” Dilshan said.
“It’s my main target, to bat as long as possible. It will help for the middle order, which has a lot of youngsters as they can bat around me,” he said.”So my target is to get a start and keep batting as long as possible. It’s much easier to chase a score then. The wicket may sometimes not be easy for the new batsmen, so I want to finish games. I’m really happy with the way I batted today.”
He further stated that it was the responsibilities of the seniors to lead from the front. “Every team must have seniors putting their hands up and doing the job for the team. No doubt about that.We have a lot of youngsters in the middle-order. If one senior guy can bat as long as possible, they can bat around the senior guy. The youngsters have talent. They need experience, in every single game they are improving, and we’re looking forward,” Dilshan said.