Maheesh Theekshana of Sri Lanka’s inexperienced bowling attack failed to carry out the game’s plans

Despite scoring 344 against Pakistan, an inexperienced bowling attack’s inability to carry out plans lost Sri Lanka the World Cup match, according to off-spinner Maheesh Theekshana.

Kusal Mendis (122) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (108) both scored hundreds for Sri Lanka as they reached 344 for nine on Tuesday. Pakistan was able to defeat this total with six wickets remaining and 10 balls to spare.

Theekshana believes Sri Lanka fell 20 runs short and failed to provide a full performance.

“We had the opportunity to go for the 370 or 380, but we lost more than 20 runs. Additionally, we made several errors and failed to carry out our intentions while bowling. Today, all three departments performed poorly, even in the field. That is why we lost, then.

“I believe that we have more experience than the fast bowlers, even if our spinners also have more experience than them. In the post-game news conference, he said that even they didn’t play any games across all of India. “Wanindu (Hasaranga) and I are the only players to have competed across India. I’ve never performed in Hyderabad. Therefore, I believe they need to play more games and get more experience. It’s very difficult to bowl in Delhi because of the narrower boundaries that were there, even for quick bowlers. So, yes, they must carry out their plans. In my opinion, they’ll accomplish it in the next matches. At 283 for four in the 40th over, Sri Lanka was coasting, but the next 10 overs produced only 61 runs for the loss of five wickets.

Theekshana said that it was the match’s pivotal moment.

Actually, the final 10 overs were played on a pitch that was a little bit sluggish. They often bowled slower balls, and we didn’t fully carry out our strategies. In the last 10 overs, we lost a lot of wickets, he remarked.

“I believe the final 10 and middle overs of our bowling inning were the turning point.” On Indian surfaces, according to Theekshana, a bowler has little margin for mistake.

In fact, our squad has a history of success thanks to our bowling ability. Playing here, however, is quite unlike from playing in Sri Lanka. The wickets in this area are less forgiving; a little error in a bowler’s line or length may quickly result in a boundary.

The high scoring style of the games here is another distinguishing feature; the side batting second may chase down large totals. I think the result may have been different today if we had scored at least 370 runs,” he remarked.

Theekshana was gushing with admiration for Mendis and Samarawickrama’s prowess with the bat.

“Kusal has been playing aggressively lately and has done a good job of adjusting to these wickets, if you look at his performances. Although I don’t doubt their abilities, these wickets definitely make scoring simpler. We haven’t seen our guys perform at this level in Sri Lanka, he remarked.

We were on pace with a run rate of around eight and 280-260 runs in roughly 30 overs before Kusal and Sadeera performed effectively today. Unfortunately, when Kusal was gone, we lost our momentum and began dropping wickets, which had a big influence on the game.