Although young skipper Virat Kohli had some issues in Galle by changing bowlers over and over again, Mishra stood by his captain and explained that their intention behind making a bowler bowl not more than four or five overs was “to confuse the batsman”, in order to stop him from getting comfortable with one bowler.
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As Sri Lanka prepare for a memorable farewell for veteran batsman Kumar Sangakkara, India will look to regroup and avenge the loss in the first Test when they square up for the second of the three-match series at the P. Sara Oval from Thursday.
His 12,350 runs from 133 Tests with 38 centuries put him in fifth place in the all-time run-getters’ list and head and shoulders above those still playing at the top level.
“The boys are all well prepared, we trained extremely hard in the past two days on all aspects of the game even though it rained yesterday and we are ready to go”. “Sangakkara has not only been a great servant of the game, but he is a great human being too”.
A recent poll by the Cricinfo website had a staggering 48 percent of respondents vote for Sangakkara as Sri Lanka’s greatest cricketer, 15 percent more than all-time wicket-taking record holder Muttiah Muralitharan, who was billed as the obvious choice. “We got to the business end of a lot of good tournaments”. “There was a time when he wondered if it was worth his while to continue playing cricket, since he was enrolled in college at that time but it all worked out in the end”, Fernando concluded.
“The best thing we can do is try and win the series for him”.
Heaping praise on Sangakkara, Mathews said, “It’s going to be an emotional game for all of us. I am sure he is determined to sign off with a hundred”.
“We are certainly not distracted by it”, Kohli said.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said nothing less than a series win would be a fitting tribute to Sangakkara.
Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Thirimanne plays a shot during the third day of the first cricket test match between India and Sri Lanka in Galle, Sri Lanka, Friday, August 14, 2015.
Apart from Tests, Sanga has an equally notable ODI career having played 404 matches, he has scored 14,234 runs at an average of 41.98 with 25 centuries and 96 half-centuries.
Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath then grabbed seven wickets as India, chasing a modest victory target of 176, were skittled for 112 soon after lunch on the fourth day.
Asked whether Cheteshwar Pujara should be included in the team for the second Test, Gavaskar said, “Pujara is a solid player”. “But we have shoved the win in Galle under the carpet”.
“Matches like Galle hurt you more than some others, because you have dominated the Test and still lost it”, the former all-rounder said.
Therefore he is expected to come back into the XI and replace the injured Shikhar Dhawan who was ruled out of the rest of the series owing to a right hand injury sustained in the first Test.
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Kohli said a decision on whether to play regular opener Murali Vijay, who missed the first Test with a hamstring niggle, will be taken before the toss on Thursday.
