Sri Lankan head coach –Chandika Hathurusingha on Thursday admitted that his team’s slow over-rate is a big concern and they need to quickly sort it out. He also acknowledged that the Lankan bowlers have not bowled well in the ongoing home Nidahs Trophy 2018.

Captain Dinesh Chandimal was suspended for two matches following slow over-rate in a T20 International Tri-series match against Bangladesh in Colombo.

As per Cricbuzz, Hathurusingha told reporters, “Definitely the slow over rate is an area that we need to work on. I got to know about our previous offences after this happened. It’s been a big problem for us. We have spoken about it and how to manage that going forward.”

Former Lanka cricketer further added, “That’s one area that we have identified. It’s not the only thing. We had a lot of discussions, we went through the footage, and we found that there were nearly two minutes between one over, and two and a half minutes between another over. Those are the areas that concern.”

On being asked about Friday’s virtual semi-final against Bangladesh, Lankan coach said, “The game against Bangladesh put us under pressure a little bit. You don’t lose many games after scoring 214 runs. They put our bowlers under pressure. I don’t think we bowled well, we need to accept that. Then again saying that all six bowlers or five bowlers don’t go for 10 runs an over many times in your career. At the same time, we have to give credit to Bangladesh for the way they batted.”

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will take on each other in the last league match of the Tri-series on Friday (16 March) in Colombo to qualify for the final against India on 18 March (Sunday).