10 October – Hyderabad – Sri Lanka player Maheesh Theekshana post-match press conference
[Reporter:]
Sri Lanka lost this game even though you scored around 350! What about the bowling side – why can’t you restrict the bowling?
[Maheesh Theekshana:]
We lost more than 20 runs because we had a chance to go for the 370 or 380. And even in the bowling we made a lot of mistakes and we didn’t execute our plans. Even in the field, actually today, all three departments we didn’t do well. So that’s why we lost.
[Reporter:]
Your teams bowling remains a concern. In the last match you also didn’t bowl well. In the last match, you also done nothing as far as the bowling department is concerned. Today was also not up to the mark.
[Maheesh Theekshana:]
I think because the experience that we got over the fast bowlers, even the spinners that we have, they don’t have much experience. Even they didn’t play any games all over India. Me and Wanindu are the only players that have played all over India. I haven’t played in Hyderabad. So, I think they have to get more experience and play more games. Even for the fast bowlers, the smaller boundaries that they had in Delhi, it’s really hard to bowl. So, yeah, they have to execute plans. I think they will do that in the next games.
[Reporter:]
Until the last 10 overs with the bat, all was going well. Last 10 overs you scored a run a ball. What happened exactly? Was there any difficulty with the pitch stopping?
[Maheesh Theekshana:]
Actually, the wicket was a little bit slow in the last 10 overs. They bowled a lot of slower balls and we didn’t execute our plans really well. We lost a lot of wickets in the last 10 overs.
[Reporter:]
Your team was in the driving seat. What do you think the turning point of this match was?
[Maheesh Theekshana:]
I think the turning point was the last 10 overs and the fielding and the middle overs, how we bowled.