World Cup: ‘England underestimated Sri Lanka’ – Maheesh Theekshana takes a jibe at defending champions | Cricket Information – Instances of India

NEW DELHI: Sri Lankan spinner Maheesh Theekshana did not mince phrases and mentioned that the defending champions England had underestimated the Islanders at their very own danger. Sri Lanka cruised to an eight-wicket win in opposition to the 2019 champions England and dented their hopes of reaching the semifinals of the mega match.
The Sri Lankan bowlers demonstrated outstanding accuracy on a pitch with unpredictable bounce, dismantling England’s lineup for a mere 156 runs.Sri Lanka clinched victory withSadeera Samarawickrama and Pathum Nissanka each scoring half-centuries. Sri Lanka chased down the full in 25.four overs.

With this win, Sri Lanka at the moment are fifth within the factors tally with 2 wins and three losses in 5 matches. They’ve a run-rate of -0.205.

“I feel they underestimated our workforce as a result of we additionally misplaced three video games and we solely gained in opposition to the Netherlands. That is why the end result went our manner as a result of we backed our energy. We went in with a easy plan, in order that’s why we gained the sport at present,” mentioned Theekshana within the post-match press meet right here.

Sri Lankan bowlers had a woeful time within the first 4 matches, leaking runs aplenty and South Africa had even mustered a 400-plus whole.
Theekshana mentioned the Lankans executed their plans significantly better on this match.

“Within the first 4 video games, we did not bowl nicely within the center overs. I feel we misplaced three video games due to our bowling. So, we did some follow periods to get extra self-discipline, all of the quick bowlers did their onerous work earlier than the sport in order that they know what they should do within the recreation (at present),” he mentioned.
Theekshana admitted that the floor on the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, usually batsmen’s ally, modified its character a bit throughout this match because the bowlers too bought some buy.
“I’ve performed an IPL match (right here) and the pitch was completely different. (Immediately) there was a little bit of flip, tempo and bounce. In that IPL match, the pitch was flat and scoring runs was comparatively straightforward.
“I am not implying that it was powerful to build up runs on this match, as we managed to attain 150 runs with simply two wickets down,” he mentioned.

The victory over England, Theekshana mentioned, will assist Sri Lanka to strategy upcoming matches with extra confidence.
“Our confidence as a workforce has elevated rather a lot. On this match, we bought a really large victory. We wish to play nicely within the upcoming 4 matches and attain the semifinals,” he added.