Do not play irresponsible shots: Tharanga tells his batsmen
23 Aug 2017 5:12 PM GMT
Pallekele: Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga on Wednesday asked his top order batsmen to fire against a dominant India, urging them not to throw their wickets in the second One-Day International, on Thursday.
Sri Lanka were positioned nicely in the first ODI at 139 for one but lost nine wickets for just 77 runs to be all out for a modest 216.
"To get to a big total we need the top four batsmen to fire. One or two of them must make a big score. That's what we have seen in the past 10-15 years. If a player gets a century then we can put up a good total between 280-300," Tharanga said at the pre-match press conference.
"What I expect from the batsmen is once they have settled in, they should bat the entire innings and take us to a decent total. If you look at the past results we have been in good positions in the first 20-25 overs. From there onwards only we have lost the grip as batsmen played irresponsible shots," said the skipper.
There was much hue and cry after their crushing defeat on Sunday and Tharanga sought to placate the angry fans apart from rejecting rumours of a dressing room rift.
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