Jayasuriya blames poor batting for Sri Lanka’s heavy defeat against Australia

Sri Lanka national cricket team’s head coach Sanath Jayasuriya says that the team suffered a huge loss against Australia due to weak batting performance.

Joining a press conference held following the first Test against Australia in Galle, the former cricketer emphasized that there’s no need to rationalize or make excuses for the defeat.

Speaking further, Jayasuriya said: “This wicket is not that difficult. These guys need to know how to handle the pressure. They need to know how to bat when they are confident. Test cricket is a unique game. There are situations in this.”

“You have to control those situations. You have to improve by batting. We have a strong batting line-up. So we have to accept that we did not perform well. So the batsmen need to know how to convert this into big centuries.” 

“If it was a difficult wicket, I would have come and said in this discussion that this is a difficult wicket, the bowlers are bowling well, but this wicket is not that dangerous. I hope to see a strong comeback during the next Test”, Jayasuriya added.

Responding to a question, he also confirmed that discussions will take place with the selectors regarding potential changes to the team for the second Test.