Putting Pakistan in to bat first was a blunder, admits http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DPMD-Jayawardene-c1397 – Cricket News Update
Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, has admitted that he made a tactical blunder by opting to bowl first in the Colombo Test after winning the toss. However, the middle-order batsman revealed that it was a collective decision as the senior players
wanted to put Pakistan under pressure on day one.
The home side won the initial Test of the series and outclassed the Green Shirts in all three departments of the game. However, the visitors bounced back in the second match and displayed a much better performance with both bat and ball and could have easily
squared the series, had rain stayed away throughout the match.
The pitch at Colombo is an extremely flat one, which makes Jayawardene’s decision even more mysterious, leading to immense criticism on the Sri Lankan captain for letting the Green Shirts off the hook.
The 35-year-old expressed that the Pakistani batsmen were quite vulnerable in the Galle Test, which is the reason why the Sri Lankan think-tank decided to put them in on a fresh track at Colombo, but the bowlers failed to give early breakthroughs.
"It was a gamble in a way, but not a very good one, and we almost paid the price for that. Putting them [http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755] in, we hoped to get at least three to four wickets in that first session and try and get an advantage, which we couldn't," Jayawardene said.
Pakistan’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Azhar-Ali-c46890 scored brilliant centuries for their team, while the former was unlucky not to have completed a double ton as he played a rash stroke to get out on 196.
The Lankans also batted well in patches but the result could have been different without the rain interruptions.
Jayawardene believes that it was always going to be extremely tough for his side to fight back after a pathetic first day. The captain is taking the poor decision’s responsibility, despite the fact that it was made with the consent of the senior players
and the coach.
He added, “After that it was always going to be tough for us to get back into the Test match. We made a collective call [to bowl], but as captain I take responsibility."
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