IND vs SL | Looking to come back in 2021 with a strong Lankan side, reveals Mickey Arthur
Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur reckons that he has a tough job at hand to rebuild the side and believes he has to do something similar to what he did when coaching South Africa and Pakistan. Arthur shared that the inability of the SL batsmen to rotate the strike is the reason behind their undoing.
After securing an impressive whitewash over Pakistan in their backyard, Sri Lanka seem to have lost their way this close to the T20 World Cup. Having been humiliated in Australia, Sri Lanka seem to be submissive against India in the ongoing series. Newly-appointed Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur pointed out his batsmen’s inability to rotate the strike behind their downfall. The South African shared that being stuck at the crease creates pressure over batsman and forces errors off them.
“They've got all the skills, but it's that ability to rotate the strike [that's missing]. And if you're not rotating the strike, that causes you to look and try and play the big shots, which they did and India were good enough to put them under that sort of pressure that causes those type of mistakes. That's something we got to have to keep working on,” Cricbuzz quoted Arthur as saying so.
"I think we had 49 dot balls tonight, which is too many, as the best teams in the world (would) have 25 dot balls. That is something we need to keep working on. We have been working on it for the last two weeks. There are too many big shots without the ability to keep rotating the strike. If you cut those 49 (dot balls) by 24 then you have got another 24 to score off, and with strike rotation you put the bowlers off a little bit, you (may) get a bad ball, an extra boundary, and suddenly we are up to 170. And with that, you can challenge the likes of a very good Indian team."
Pondering on the dire situation of the side, Arthur reckoned that he needs to repeat his heroics as South Africa and Pakistan coach to rebuild the side. Arthur in his previous assignments revived the Proteas from the 2003 home World Cup debacle to make them the No.1 ODI side before taking Pakistan from the 9th spot to the top in T20I rankings.
"It is kind of like what I started with, in South Africa; it was exactly the same when I was in Pakistan... Pakistan was a team that was ranked No 9 in T20 cricket and we got Pakistan to win 11 series' in a row - we did not play India - and got ourselves to No 1 in the world.
"There were good values because we used the sum of our parts. There were guys who could hit our of the park but we learned how to play to our strengths. And that is kind of what I see with Sri Lanka. It is going to be a challenge, we got eight months to that 2020 World Cup, I am thinking even one World Cup further than that - I am thinking (about) coming back here in 2021 when the guys would be a real finished article, but it is going to take a lot of work. In coaching, that is what your biggest challenge is, and that is why you do it," the South African signed off.