Chandimal over the moon

After playing a counter-attacking 162 that has given Sri Lanka to push for a potentially come-from-nowhere win in the opening Test, Chandimal said the decision to play largely sweep shots was pre-meditated.

“Before I went out to bat I was thinking in the dressing room what I was going to do in the middle. I wanted to reverse sweep and sweep to put pressure on the bowlers. I did that. I’m really happy with the way I handled their spinners. It was a difficult pitch to bat on. So, I tried to rotate the strike. I knew if I put pressure on the bowlers, I can get a loose delivery from him. That’s what I did in the middle.”

Chandimal said he was delighted with this knock that could provide a major boost to his career. “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. Now I know how to deal with situations when something happens to me. I try to improve my game everyday. I’m over the moon now. I’m happy I handled the pressure well. I also think (Lahiru) Thirimanne and (Jehan) Mubarak batted very well. (Angelo) Mathews and (Kumar) Sangakkara too played well at the start. We have got a good lead of 175 runs, we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.” Chandimal felt the match is in the balance and Sri Lanka too would be eyeing a win.