look news india
New Delhi, August 21 (HS). Dhananjaya de Silva has admitted that he wanted to play at least one more practice match in preparation for the Test series against England. This was Sri Lanka's first Test tour of Britain in eight years. Sri Lanka played a four-day match against the England Lions team at New Road last week and were bowled out for only 139 runs in their first innings, losing the match by seven wickets.
Although the visitors performed better in the game and batted better in the second Test, they will go into the Test in Manchester without any extra practice. “The conditions here are quite different compared to Asian countries. We wanted to play some matches, but that is what we got,” Dhananjaya said.
He said in a statement, “We are fighting with full strength [वार्म-अप के लिए टीम] We did not go. We have also tried some players. The result did not go in our favour, but I think we had the preparation. It will be useful in this match.”
Dhananjaya, who has led Sri Lanka to victory in each of the three Test matches under his leadership so far, admitted that this is Sri Lanka's first Test series since 2018 that features more than two Tests, which could make the schedule tight and hence, his team could potentially be deprived of another practice match. However, the captain admitted that his team is in a good mental state.
“I have no idea about it. Maybe because we are playing a three-match series after a long time; maybe that's why another practice match has not been scheduled,” he said.
He said, “Our mental state is good. Yes, we lost the practice match, but that match is for our training. In that, we prepared what we wanted. It looks like it will be a rain-affected match. It has been a long time since we last played here, but there are some experienced players… they are sharing their experience with me.”