Sri Lanka’s former Test captain Dinesh Chandimal applauded the batting feat of Kamindu Mendis, who posted a hundred under pressure in the first Test against England at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Chandimal and Kamindu shared a 100 plus partnership as Sri Lanka were able to set England a target of 205. England won the game by five wickets.
Chandimal was full of praise for Kamindu, who landed in England just one week prior to the first Test and missed out on playing the warm-up game in Worcester.
“Kamindu is unbelievable. This is his first tour to England and scoring a hundred in the first game is unbelievable. He is world class. It took me two tours to score a Test hundred in England,” Chandimal told reporters.
“Kamindu is a fine player. If he can come and play in England County Cricket, his game will further improve. He has a positive mindset. That’s his greatest asset. I spoke to him when we were having lunch. He said that he is in a very positive frame of mind. He is a player like that. It is good for us to have a teammate like him.”
Chandimal felt that if Sri Lanka were able to set a target over 250, it would have been a different ball game. “It was a good fight back by the boys. Probably we were short 50 runs. We keep saying that. We need to learn and rectify. The tail didn’t contribute in the second innings. If they had done we could have got there. As a team we fought well. When you come to England it will take time to get used to conditions. I am sure we will play much better in London.”
Chandimal had got hit on his thumb by Mark Wood and needed to go to hospital. Sri Lanka are hopeful he will be fit for the next Test at Lord’s starting on Thursday.
“I had the same injury six months ago. In the x-ray it said it had aggravated. Hopefully I will be fit for the next game. The doctor told me that it was the previous injury. I told the doctor that I wanted to bat and he gave me an injection. I told manager too that I wanted to bat. Probably my last tour to England. So, I was desperate to play.”
Chandimal kept wickets in the first innings but after the injury Kusal Mendis was handed the gloves. He felt a better effort in the first innings should have seen the team over the line.
“In the first innings if we had scored 300 runs it would have been great. We lost three wickets in the first half hour. Very difficult when that happens. But we recovered after that. Then again there were a few lapses. These things can happen. We played well as a team. In previous tours too we have struggled to compete in England in the first game. But this time it was different.”
