Bipin Dani
The Sri Lankan cricket team is “disappointed” with the draw result, according to the team manager Manuja Kariapperuma.
The first Test match of the Walton Series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy ended in a draw but not before it became suddenly live when Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne declared the first innings at lunch on the final day.
“It (declaration) was a team decision and it was decided on Saturday”, the team manager, speaking exclusively over the telephone from Kandy, said.
“We wanted to go for the kill. We wanted to have a lead of 150 by lunch but the wickets fell early”.
Sri Lanka declared the innings at the scoreboard reading 8 for 648 runs, thus taking a lead of 107 runs.
The two sudden wickets in the Bangladesh second innings raised some hopes for the result but it was not enough for the host team to win the match, which was also affected by rain and the bad light.
“The wicket was not assisting but pressure could have done a lot of things”, the manager added. “There is also no provision for the flood lights to be on”, the manager added.
The playing conditions agreed upon by both teams before the Test series don’t allow the switching to the floodlights.
