Tillakaratne Dilshan has regained form at the right time for Sri Lanka. In conditions where run gathering is not easy, the opener dished out a particularly authoritative innings against Bangladesh. His all-round effort of 71 runs and three wickets gave him the man of the match award.
“I was not in the best of form before the Zimbabwe tour. I watched videos of the many things that had gone wrong with my game and made necessary adjustments. I got starts in Zimbabwe and I have just carried the form to the Asia Cup and am hoping to make 1,000 runs in ODIs this year,” said Dilshan.
Dilshan who chipped in well as a spinner was only eager to contribute more in that department. “I am not surprised that I got three wickets. In the last few seasons I was keen to bowl but I hardly got a chance because of the presence of Ajanta Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan. There was only one spinner today and I got a bowl. I can serve the team as an batting all-rounder,” added Dilshan.
The search for answers against top sides continues for Bangladesh. After another embarrassing defeat, coach Jamie Siddons blamed it on the inability of the batsmen to play spin.
“It is frustrating, we play spin all the time but are struggling at the moment. We struggled in England against Graeme Swann, and Daniel Vettori at home. Lack of footwork has been our biggest undoing,” said Siddons.
Mohammed Ashraful’s poor form has been another reason for the poor show. The coach agreed the batsman was out of form but other players needed to take a share of the blame too. “I was just speaking to Ashraful, he had tears in his eyes after letting the team down, he was upset with the shot he played. Other players are also letting us down in the last few games,” the coach said.