da pixbet： Veteran batsman Aravinda de Silva, on the verge of retirement after hisrecent omission from the national squad, blamed Sri Lanka’s bowlers andfielders for their seven-wicket defeat by India in the second Test Kandy
CricInfo27-Aug-2001Veteran batsman Aravinda de Silva, on the verge of retirement after hisrecent omission from the national squad, blamed Sri Lanka’s bowlers andfielders for their seven-wicket defeat by India in the second Test Kandy.De Silva, writing for the wicket.com, said: “Sri Lanka’s bowlers were unableto disrupt the Indian batsmen’s concentration and delivered too many fourballs, which enabled them to score far more freely than should have been thecase.””The Sri Lankan bowling also failed to respond to the challenge, with themain attack force, especially Muralitharan, failing to get as much turn outof surface as he normally does in the fourth innings,” he said. “The seamerswere just as disappointing in their length and direction.”De Silva, not the sharpest in the field, went on to criticise the home sidesfielding: “Sri Lanka’s patchy fielding effort did not help, with too manycatches being dropped at crucial stages of the innings. It was so unlikeMuttiah Muralitharan to drop a catch at a crucial moment.””It was also disappointing to see Russel Arnold, one of the more brilliantfielders in the side, dropping an easy catch which could have changed thewhole course of the match,” he added.De Silva pointed out, however, that Sri Lanka were unlucky: “Sri Lanka alsohad their moments of misfortunes. There were several confident appeals forleg-before decisions, which did not earn the umpires approval.”He did, though, comment that: “Compared to the previous match in Asgiriya inMarch against England, the umpiring was of a far higher standard in thisgame.”