Sri Lanka Vs India 3rd Test: We Are A Little Down On Confidence, Says Hashan Tillakaratne
Aug 13, 2017 at 9:25 PM
If Sri Lanka were hoping for a respite in the ongoing third Test after two heavy defeats at Galle and Colombo then the hopes were brutally quashed just after the first two days of the match as the islanders are staring down the barrel once again.
After Hardik Pandya’s whirlwind century battered Sri Lanka’s already poor confidence, the visitors led by Kuldeep Yadav’s 4 for 40 bowled the hosts out for a paltry 135 to enforce a follow on. But just the last five innings of the series, Sri Lanka were off to a poor start once again, finishing the second day on 19 for 1, still needing 333 runs to avoid an innings defeat as well as a whitewash.
Disappointed with the latest failure, batting coach Hashan Tillakaratne did not give any excuse in the post-day presser and asked for more patience for the inexperienced lineup.
“It’s very hurting, but you can’t find any excuses. You need to work with these boys and teach the best you know. Given a bit of time, I am sure they will put up a better show,” he said.
Tillakaratne went on admit that the team is down with confidence.
“Yes we won 3-0 against Australia with the same side, but we are a little down on confidence. We just need one or two guys to put up their hands and do a miracle. I am sure the boys want to do the needful. From here we cannot go down but only up. As support staff, we are giving every bit of backing to the players, they are the ones who go out in the middle and perform. We are doing what we can to help them. We need to give them a little bit of time to get the desired results,” he said.
“Everyone makes mistakes and what we try to do is the reduce the number of mistakes. We expect the players will do that and bring us the victories which we are all waiting for. The players who are playing today are the best we have at the moment, we must give them the fullest support and they will bring results,” he added.