Dinesh Chandimal claims Sri Lanka have plans for Ashwin and Jadeja

11/10/2017

Dinesh Chandimal has revealed that Sri Lanka have plans to deal with the Indian spin duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja but when asked, he refused to expand on the statement. Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas asserted that his team needs to be focused and not be “infatuated” with the talented Indian side.

India toured Sri Lanka in July-August and completely dominated the entire tour winning all nine matches across three formats. Sri Lanka, at times, did put up a fight in the limited-overs series, but in the three Tests they were completely overpowered by the Indian juggernaut losing two matches by an innings and one by 304 runs. While their bowlers struggled to stop the Indians from putting up huge scores, their batsmen struggled to match up against the spinning duo of Ashwin and Jadeja, who claimed 30 wickets between them in three matches.

“They are the No. 1 and No. 2 in the world. They‘ve bowled really well last couple of years. I don’t want to tell our plans in front of you. We have something up our sleeve,” Chandimal said, reported Indian Express.

But it isn’t just Ashwin and Jadeja, and India’s tremendous batting lineup that stand in Sri Lanka’s way, they have the weight of history on their shoulders as well. Sri Lanka have not played a single Test in India since 2010 and the seven times that they have made the short travel to the Indian shores, they have failed to impress. Not only have they lost five of the seven series, they have never won a single Test in India. Current coach Nic Pothas has issued a rallying cry ahead of the series and told his players not to be infatuated with the Indian players.

“I think what we have changed is the culture within the group. When we took on India, we were all pretty new, the support staff and the players involved. We are now a team that prideourselves in our culture. We focus on ourselves. The mistake you can make here is come and be infatuated with the Indian side and concentrate too much on them. We know they are a good side. But we played them only a month ago. We have to concentrate on our strengths and jobs, and if we can execute them well it will be a challenging series,” Pothas said

But there is some light at the end of the tunnel for the island nation. After they were completely decimated by the Men in Blue at home, they went up against Pakistan in UAE and secured a 2-0 series win thanks to some exceptional performances from Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, and Rangana Herath. Pothas explained that the team learned a lot from the defeat against India and implemented the changes in the successful series against Pakistan. After the win against Pakistan, Chandimal had claimed that it was witchcraft that had helped them win the Test series. However, Team manager Asanka Gurusinha explained that it was what was done on the field of play that resulted in the success in the UAE.

“He has answered some questions back there. In cricket, you got to get out there and perform on the field. Each player has to do that. That’s the way the Sri Lankan team believe. Yes, we have our own religious beliefs like you. But at the end of the day, you go there and just play,” Gurusinha said.

Sri Lanka and India will renew the rivalry on November 16 after the visitors play a couple of practice games against the Board President's XI.