IND v SL 2020: "Need to get better after every outing", Arthur pins hopes on young Sri Lankan side 

Sri Lanka will have to come victorious in Pune to level the T20I series.

Sri Lanka lost by seven wickets in Indore | AFPHead coach Mickey Arthur expects the young Sri Lankan side at his disposal to show improvement from the last T20I versus India and pull off a performance it is very much capable of in the last game of the three-match series in Pune on Friday (January 10). 

After the rain-abandoned Guwahati T20I, the two sides met on Tuesday in Indore where the home team dominated proceedings towards a seven-wicket victory; the inexperienced visitors were found wanting in all departments of the game. 

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"We have got a set of players who are very skilled and we just need to educate them a little bit in terms of game plans, strategy and match management. We need to make them understand when to take risks and when not," Arthur told reporters. 

"We are working hard on rotating strikes. Those are the little things we are working on. After every outing, we need to get better and better and in eight months time we have to be competing (in T20 World Cup)."

Arthur also explained the reason behind leaving out former skipper and veteran all-rounder Angelo Mathews. "It was my first T20 with the team and I relied on starting with where they finished," he said. "Angelo brings us a wealth of experience. So we need him to start from a base and then look at how we can tinker with the team and how we could get specific roles for everybody. That'll still take us a little bit of time."

"The only reason we didn't play him (Mathews) was simply because we were starting from where Sri Lankan finished in their last T20 series. And he (Mathews) hasn't played for 16 months in this squad."

The Lankans did their chances no good going for the big shot way too often and Arthur understands they'll have to show more game awareness. "The wickets here (in India) are really good, so you have to score 170s. I have told players that try and put targets in T20 cricket because sometimes you go out there thinking I will get 180 and take too many risks while setting and then get all out for 140 and later realise that maybe 150 could have won us the game," he said. 

One would still expect the mighty Indian side to prevail because of the huge structural gap between the two nations. "India is trying out some really good players and there is abundance in talent here," Arthur said. "The players that they bring in just stand up and do their job. It shows how strong structure they have now."

(Inputs from PTI)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 10 Jan, 2020

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