Sri Lanka captain also hopes their fast-bowling reserves will improve in the future
“If we had won that last game, it would have been a big boost going into this game,” Shanaka said. “But I have a lot of belief that this young team can start winning soon.
Both Rajitha and Sandakan went for more than seven runs per over, but Shanaka said it was a decision that was easier to criticise in hindsight.
“We can’t always know which way would have been best. As a captain my main goal is to win, at the time I did what I thought was best but going forward I’ll need to learn from these experiences.”
“We need to fix the playing environment first. When Asalanka was batting at No. 3 in England, a lot of people might have been saying he wasn’t of international standard. As a captain, the way I looked at it was, how do we get the best out of him? I spoke to coaches and selectors, and we decided that he should first play at No. 5, where he can first gain experience playing in the middle order. Then gradually put him into that No. 3 role. We need to give players time to settle in. That will give him time to learn about international cricket, how to play certain bowlers, when to accelerate an innings, when to stretch things out, he will gradually get a better understanding of these things.
“Just like Asalanka, Chamika has been playing really well. But Chamika also needs time to settle in. He has shown he can finish, so we need to give him more time in that role. That’s how you build his confidence. So that’s why both are in their specific positions, to gain that crucial experience.”
“We do have a problem in being able to replace some players,” Shanaka said. ‘In the past, we’ve lost a lot of in-form players due to injuries, to the detriment of our side. So now we need to manage our fast bowlers a lot more carefully. We have about three fast bowlers who can bowl over 140kph, but if we can nurture a few more to that level it’ll make things easier in terms of rotation.
“Having a player like Lahiru Kumara is very much an advantage, but we need to manage his bowling load, and with him coming back from injury, we need to get him match fit properly without rushing him back. As a captain, I would of course like to have both Dushmantha and Kumara, but we need to manage the bowling loads properly.
“Going forward, we will hopefully have more players coming through from the Under-19 and A team levels, and at that point, we should be able to properly implement a rest and rotation policy. It’s honestly a good thing because if you look at someone like Dushmantha he’s been in a bubble for three months straight.”