SL vs SA 2018: We made mistakes throughout the game, says Dickwella after second straight loss for the Lankans

South Africa won the game by 4 wickets.

Dickwella scored 69. (Getty)

Sri Lanka succumbed to their second straight defeat against South Africa in the 5 match ODI series. On the other hand, South Africa have made a resounding comeback in the series after their Test series whitewash. 

Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella has said that they will have to refrain from committing mistakes which have been far too many in the first two matches so far. 

Sri Lanka have now lost their last ten ODIs against South Africa and are finding it hard to find a solution to the issue. "We made mistakes throughout the game," Dickwella said after the match on Wednesday (August 1). "If we want to win a match, we can't make so many mistakes. Maybe you can make two or three mistakes and fix those things within the game itself and win the match. But if you make mistakes through the match, it's hard to win."

Three catches put down in the first six overs of the chase hurt Sri Lanka as Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla gave the visitors a brisk start - scoring 91 for the opening wicket in 14 overs. De Kock scored 87, while Hashim Amla (43) and Faf du Plessis (49) scored crucial runs and in the process contributed in the second straight win for the Proteas. 

The third ODI now becomes a must win for Sri Lanka if they are to keep the series alive. "I was working with the batting coach Thilan Samaraweera and coach Chandika Hathurusingha, and I did some changes in my batting and I was worried about those things," Dickwella revealed. "Then we had one-to-one meetings, and I said I'm going to play like how I used to play, and not think about my technique. I'm going to work on my technique in the nets, but I'm going to play my normal game like I used to play when I started my career. That's what I did when I went to the middle today. It worked out for me."

Sri Lanka were bundled out from being 56 for 3 to 244 all out which goes on to show their fragile batting line up. Dickwella (69) and Mathews (79) came back amongst the runs but there was nothing much from the rest of the batsmen. 

"If I go to a negative mindset after we lost two wickets, definitely I'm going to get out," Dickwella said. "I didn't think about the wickets. It was not my mistake to lose those wickets, so if I think about those things, and bat as a reaction to that, it's not going to help me. I spoke to my partners, and we wanted to build a partnership. Then Angelo Mathews came and it really helped me because he is the senior player and he always talks to me. He always advises me how to play and how to take the calculated risk. That helped me" Dickwella concluded keeping a word on his batting effort. 

(Inputs from Cricbuzz) 

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 02 Aug, 2018

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