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Sri Lanka National Cricket Team captain Dhananjaya de Silva opened up on the performance of his side in the second Test match against the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team on Thursday, August 27. India and Sri Lanka's second Test match has been drawn, with India winning the series 1-0.
Speaking after the draw, Dhananjaya de Silva was happy with the performances of Pasindu Sooriyanbandara and Sonal Dinusha, who saved Sri Lanka from defeat as they executed their plans very well in the second game at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo. He is happy with how the team came back in this game to earn a draw.
India had a strong start to the match
Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to bat first as India had taken off from where they left the first Test match. They started well in the form of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, as the former scored 18 runs and could not convert his start to a big score. Jaiswal, once again, failed to reach his half-century and was back after 45 runs.
Devdutt Padikkal once again showcased his good form in this match, as he played a knock of 117 runs off 193 deliveries, smashing 12 boundaries. He was supported by captain Gill, who scored fifty and built a partnership of 120 runs. Later on, Rishabh Pant also played a knock of 66 runs after being retired hurt.
Dhruv Jurel stood tall as he scored 115* runs, with Ravindra Jadeja scoring 43 runs as India piled up 503/9 and declared the innings.
Sri Lanka fights back to earn a draw
Sri Lanka had a nightmare start with 8/2, and then debutant Pasindu Sooriyabandara scored 80 runs in the first innings, and Sonal Dinusha took the thorn for India, scoring yet another hundred, scoring 103 runs, but they failed to save the follow-on after being bowled out for 290 runs.
Now, after saving the innings defeat, the home side took a lead on day 5, with Sooriyabandara scoring 92 and Dinusha scoring a hundred in the second innings as well, and batted with the tailender as both frustrated the Indian bowlers, earning a hard-fought draw. The Southpaw remained unbeaten with a score of 133 runs.
Dhananjaya de Silva happy after Sri Lanka's fighting draw
After the match, in the post-match presentation, Dhananjaya de Silva credited the selectors and the coach for handing over the captaincy to him and also lauded Sonal Dinusha for his exceptional innings to save the match for his side.
De Silva said, "[On the positives from the series despite losing 1-0] Yes, of course. It's all about finding the talent for the future Sri Lanka cricket. And I think the selectors and coach gave me that opportunity, get the youngsters in and, you know, let them freely go and do their job for the country.
"A good headache": Dhananjaya de Silva on players' injuries
Dhananjaya de Silva speaks about the injury problems as he believes that it turned out to be good for the side. As the Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, and Pathum Nissanka have always made a comeback in the squad.
Dhananjaya de Silva further added, "[On the challenge of bringing senior players back after injuries] Yes, of course. That's a good headache to have, three guys who were playing continuously and have a comeback and knock the door again. So I think yeah, that's a good headache."
"[On what he would have changed in hindsight to alter the series] Maybe in the second innings, that I would have maybe batted a bit longer (in Galle), that's the point, where they got into the game and they won the series."
