Nidahas Trophy | Kusal Mendis’ dismissal in 15th over was turning point of match, says Thisara Perera

After suffering a humiliating loss against Bangladesh in the third match of the series, SL was determined to bounce back against India and cement their place in the finals of the 2018 Nidahas Trophy. But to their surprise, they lost the game against India by 6 wickets and Thisara Perera asserted that Kusal Mendis’ dismissal in the 15th over took the game away from the hosts.

“This was the biggest reason for the defeat. We lost two or three wickets in quick succession. We should have stuck around during that period, and if we did that, we could have got around 180 easily. The bowlers need at least 175 to defend on this pitch,” said the 28-year-old.

“In the previous two matches, we didn’t need the batsmen coming in at No. 7 or 8. So we thought the batsmen we had was enough. But today we couldn’t bat well - including me. I have to bear the blame as well. I batted well at the start and could have continued that. But what I tried to do was to hit a boundary. I think we could have batted better around Kusal Mendis,” said the Sri Lanka captain.

India managed to chase down the score in 17.3 overs as Manish Pandey along with Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina contributed to this victory which helped the Indian team climb to the top of the points table. With this loss, Sri Lanka, however, are now second on the table with 2 points in 3 games. To book a place in the finals they will have to beat Bangladesh in the last game of the league round of the Tri-series.