Dimuth reiterates he wants to focus as a batsman

By Rex Clementine

Sri Lanka’s Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne early this year had told the national selection panel that to look at other options for the role of captain for the new cycle of the Test Championship. While the selectors have requested him to continue, on Thursday, after Sri Lanka’s four wicket loss to Pakistan in Galle, Karunaratne reiterated that he would be happy to give up the captaincy.

“After I made the request, the selectors asked me to continue as captain. I have told them to reconsider my request after this series. I would like to focus purely as a batsman for my remaining few years. There are few suitable players for the leadership role. We don’t have a Test series until February next year,” Karunaratne told journalists.

Karunaratne faulted the team’s first innings batting and poor catching for the loss.

“Disappointed we didn’t put up a big score after wining the toss. It was the best time to bat. We know that the first session is the toughest with their quicks creating opportunities. We just had to see off that tough period.  Dhananjaya batted well. Then after taking five early wickets, we allowed their tail to cause significant damage. We put down a few chances and they took the game away from us.”

Pakistan’s spinners are inexperienced, and it was vital that the team played the pace of Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi well to get an edge but Sri Lanka failed to do it.

“Our plan was to take their seamers out of the equation. The plan was to face the quicks well. If you see the last time when they came their spin was strong. Yasir Shah bowled really well. This time around their fast bowlers are creating more trouble while the spinners, apart from the leggie, who has some variations, the left-arm spinner and the off-spinner are bowling to a set plan. We should have fared much better.”