JOIN USSkipper Dinesh Chandimal tendered an apology to Sri Lankan fans after his team crashed to a crushing innings and 171-run defeat against India here on Monday. With this loss, Lanka suffered a 3-0 whitewash in less than 11 days of cricket out of the possible 15 days.
“You cannot predict the outcome of the game but (if you) are you asking whether I am apologising to the fans, then yes, I am apologising. To all the Sri Lankan fans here and away from home, I apologise for this performance,” said Chandimal while adding that it was the worst defeat he has experienced in his career.
“I would say this is the toughest series in my career, no doubt about that and the reason being that we were not able to take the games to five days. There have been four-day Tests and a three-day Test, worst series ever. It’s pretty tough for me and the team. Credit goes to India. They have played outstandingly well in the series. I am disappointed that if we could have dragged the game to the fifth day we could have learned something, but losing within two and half days you cannot give any excuses,” he opined.
Only last year, Sri Lanka had beaten Australia 3-0 and that time Steve Smith’s men were the top-ranked Test side in the world. Chandimal was asked what went wrong this time.
“I would say the main concern is injuries. For the Australia series we had everyone fit, no injuries whatsoever. Everyone chipped in. This series, there are so many injuries. . That’s the main issue.”