We have to sit down, see what went wrong: SL captain Karunaratne after losing home series against Pakistan 

Colombo [Sri Lanka], July 28 (ANI): Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne was disappointed with his team’s batting performance as they lost their home Test series against Pakistan by 2-0 after being bundled out for 188 in the second innings.

Pakistan had declared their first innings at 576/5. In response, Sri Lanka were all-out at 166 & 188 in the first and second innings respectively, and hence beaten by innings and 222 runs in Colombo on Thursday.
In the post-match presentation, Karunaratne said. “As I said in Galle, the batting unit needed to stand up, but 166 in the first innings wasn’t enough. It was a pretty good wicket, but we threw away our wickets and we were always chasing from there on. Once you start an innings, it’s important to build on, got a lot of 20s and 30s, but no one could go on, unlike the Pakistan batters. We will have to sit down, see what went wrong and try to overcome it.”

“We were expecting to do a few things, but they batted well during the tough times and milked the rest of the time. That’s what we will have to learn as well. Last few years, the Test specialists have found it hard, they’ve to wait for the Test matches. I don’t think we had any positives with either bat or ball, we weren’t consistent with either line and lengths,” he added.

In both Test matches Pakistan were always a step ahead of the hosts. Their bowling attack was ruthless while the batting unit knew their specific roles throughout the innings.

Sri Lanka displayed some fighting spirit in the first game but failed to resist the sheer quality of the Pakistan team.

Especially in the second Test, Sri Lanka were a few steps behind the visitors in all departments. On Day 4 they enjoyed a steady start with the bat Noman Ali began his relentless onslaught on the Sri Lankan batters by picking up Nishan Madushka’s wicket for 33.

With the end of their 69-run partnership, skipper Dimuth Karunaratne was next to follow before completing his half-century. Noman Ali struck once again to take Pakistan a step closer towards victory.

Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews tried to string up a partnership but Noman didn’t allow to let that happen.

The veteran spinner didn’t allow to happen that with the next four batters Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Ramesh Mendis falling in quick succession.

Naseem Shah picked up the remaining three wickets to mark the end of the series.