Sri Lanka’s T20 skipper Dinesh Chandimal blamed the rotation policy which left one senior player out of each of the last two games as reasons for the series loss but was tight-lipped when asked to justify the rotation policy.
The ad-hoc selection policy of the national selectors left the vociferous Sri Lankan fans dumbfounded when Sri Lanka rested Mahela Jayawardene in the first match and then TM Dilshan in the second match in order to make way for young guns to establish their positions leading up to next year’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.
But the decision seems to have backfired in front of their own eyes as Sri Lanka conceded an inaccessible 2-0 lead to South Africa in the three-match series with a 22 run defeat in the second match.
“We had a good team but the only problem was that we could not play all three seniors together in the series,” said Chandimal who admitted the importance of having the three seniors.
Asked whether the selectors informed him of the reasons behind the rotation policy, he said the question should be directed to the selectors as he was not in a position to answer.
“You will have to ask the selectors. I cannot comment on that,” he said leaving many unanswered questions with regard to his role as the captain.
Opposing captain, Faf du Plessis said he was surprised to see Dilshan out from Sunday’s crunch game.
“I was very surprised. He has been a match winner for them. We saw way too much of him in the one-day series. So we were very happy to see him not playing today,” du Plessis said after Sunday’s victory.
According to the selectors, Kumar Sangakkara, the country’s best batsman in the current series with an unbeaten 59 and 39 respectively in the last two matches will be dropped to make way for TM Dilshan in the final match today.
Sri Lanka’s batting has been the biggest concern right through the series as it exposed the inexperience top and middle order leaving many an answered questions with regard to the thinking behind the move.
“I think we did well with the ball. The target was gettable. But we were not at our best with the bat. We had several young players in side and they failed to deliver for us with the bat,” Chandimal said.
Chandimal himself had been dreadful with the bat, having managed just 197 runs with a single 50-plus score in his career of 15 innings for an average of 13.13.
He has reached double figures only twice in his last eight outings with a best of 12 runs, a woeful record that warrants no place in the side.
Lahiru Thirimanne who has been shuffled around the batting order is no better with the bat, having scored just 143 runs in 13 innings with an average of 14.80.
Kusal Perera has played just six matches and has a slightly better average of 28.80 largely thanks to his match winning 64 against Bangladesh in March.
“We have given a lot more opportunities to young players but it has not really worked for us in the recent past. As young cricketers we need to take responsibility a bit more and help the team,” said Chandimal.
