Colombo: Winning Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka was grateful to Indian skipper Shikhar Dhawan and coach Rahul Dravid for sharing their knowledge with the young Sri Lankan team.
“Just as we learn from our own senior players it is important that we also learn from the experience from Indian players as well. I was really grateful to Shikhar for giving this opportunity,” said Shanaka while speaking to journalists after the T20 series victory against India.
“Shikhar is a player who has experience of over ten years of playing international cricket. I asked him how he prepares himself and what was his game planning and situation handling which are very important,” Dasun said when asked as to what the Indian captain told his team at the end of the final T20 which Sri Lankan won with seven wickets.
“They (Indian players) even have mastered the breathing patterns. I personally thought by talking to a player like Shikhar we would be able to get a good understanding about promoting the game,” the newly-appointed Sri Lankan skipper said.
“We asked Rahul Dravid how they approach the game because the Indian players are very positive when they are on the field,” said Shanaka who took his team to the Indian coach following their victory.
At the presentation, Shanaka also thanked the BCCI for agreeing to play under the circumstances and he specially thanked Dravid and Dhawan.
At the presentation, Dhawan too said what he told the young Sri Lankan team.
“Both the teams played in great spirit and it was beautiful we were both quite competitive on the field and the respect was there and Sri Lankan boys and the captain wanted to know what my process and how I take things in my game and I was sharing whatever I have gained during the past few years.
That’s the way I do it and that’s the process and I hoped they enjoyed it,” he added.
Right from the beginning, the series faced various debacles as Sri Lanka’s batting coach Grant Flower and performance analysts who returned from a bio-bubble in England found positive for Covid-19.
The series was rescheduled on the request by Sri Lanka Cricket to BCCI. The second T20 scheduled for July 27 had to be shifted to July 28 after India’s Krunal Pandya tested positive for Covid-19 and eight other close associates were not able to play the final game.
