Mahesh Theekshana, the Sri-Lankan spinner addressed a press conference after his team’s five-wicket win over Afghanistan on Saturday.
While responding about the team’s chase, the spinner said that the team never thought they were out of the hunt at the halfway mark. He refuted claims of his team being under pressure at mid-innings.
He said, “I don’t feel we were out of the chase at the halfway mark, we were in the hunt for the entire innings. ” Talking about the belief in the dressing room about the target he said, “Yeah we knew that we will get it because we have multiple winners in the team that played well last game too. So yeah getable chase always.” Speaking about chasing such targets against the other teams, he said, “We know that they have quality bowling attacks but we can surely beat them.”
He also gave the rationale behind him coming to bowl in the death overs.
The Sri Lankan said, “The presence of two right-handers till the 14th over was the reason why I was being held back.” Reacting to bowling the 19th over that went just for three runs, he said, “I had a good plan and that’s why I executed it and as a result, the 19th over had only three runs and I get wicket also.”
On being asked about the team not being able to dismiss Rahmanullah Gurbaz cheaply, he said, “It was good luck for him today, that’s why he played such a knock.” Talking about his team’s confidence for the remaining matches, he said, “We have confidence that we are a good team and we will win the next two matches also.”
A late blitz from left-hander Bhanuka Rajapaksa helped Sri Lanka defeat Afghanistan by four wickets in the first match of the Super Four phase of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Rajapaksa slammed swashbuckling 31 in 14 balls while Kusal Mendis played a knock of 36 runs. For Afghanistan Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Naveen-ul-Haq bagged two wickets each
