IND vs SL 2017, 3rd ODI: Nic Pothas Admits Five Openers' Strategy Backfired

Sri Lanka finally paid the price for including as many as five opening batsmen in their squad, as a middle-order collapse dashed their hopes of winning a historic series in India.

After being sent in to bat first, the Islanders were well on course for a big total following the 121-run stand between Upul Tharanga and Sadeera Samarawickrama.

However, once Samarawickrama and Tharanga got dismissed in a short span of time, the following batsmen could not capitalise on the solid platform. The visitors lost their last eight wickets for just 55 runs to get all out for a modest 215 from a promising position of 160 for two. The score was never going to pose a tough challenge for the hosts, and they did not let the visitors spring a surprise by chasing down the total with ease in the 33rd over.

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Sri Lanka perhaps paid the price for not having more experienced middle-order batsmen and not surprisingly it was one of the main topics when interim coach Nic Pothas attended during the post-match press conference following the crushing eight-wicket loss.

Pothas revealed it was a strategy from the team-management but admitted it did not work out as expected.

“It’s a tough one. In hindsight, we can look back and pick holes in the system. But we had a strategy,” Pothas told journalists.

“What we tried to do was to get as many players as possible who are good players of spin bowling into the squad. If you want to play India, you want to have players who can play spin in the middle order. That strategy is sound. But unfortunately, we lost two wickets in one over, and that put us behind the black ball little bit,” he added.

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Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Kusal Perera were in the squad with only the first two getting the chance to open the innings in the series. The likes of Niroshan Dickwella and Samarawickrama were made to play in the middle-order despite being openers while middle-order batsman like Dinesh Chandimal, who was in fine form in the preceding Test series, was not even in the squad.

Even Lahiru Thirimanne did not get included in the playing eleven for the series-decider.

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The latest defeat, meanwhile, brought an end to a disastrous year for the Islanders as far as results in ODIs are concerned. They suffered three 5-0 whitewashes this year in addition to losing a home series against Zimbabwe. Overall, they managed to win just five of the 28 ODIs they played so far.

Speaking about the team’s performance this year, Pothas said:  

“If I summed up our ODI cricket, I would say we didn’t learn fast enough. In Tests though, it is the opposite. The guys have learned quickly and adapted. In ODIs, the same errors keep happening. We keep crossing the street and getting run over by the same bus over and over. So I leave that up to the selectors and the new coach. I obviously will have my suggestions to make. But if you keep making the same mistakes, you can’t keep living.

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