JOIN USNiroshan Dickwella, perhaps, set the template for Sri Lanka’s second innings. In the first innings where he was the lone half-centurion, Dickwella used the sweep to good effect en route to his 48-ball-51. Kusal Mendis employed the same strategy with more impact as Lanka, after following-on, finished the day at a far more impressive 209/2.
“I used to play the sweep and the reverse sweep shots a lot,” Dickwella said while talking about his approach on the day. “I backed my strength. It was the best option on a spinning wicket against (R) Ashwin and (Ravindra) Jadeja. We weren’t good in the first session. (But) we had plans before the second innings started like how to handle spin, how to handle pressure and how to play the new ball. It was a long meeting during the lunch break and we executed those plans very well (in the second innings). We didn’t handle the situation properly (in the first). We should have settled down a bit, but we didn’t. We could have settled down like in the evening session. We were more positive after lunch,” he remarked.
Dickwella, who terms attacking batting as his normal game, said how the team trains to perfect the sweep shot.
“I played my normal game, swept about 80 percent of my shots,” he noted. “We were training hard on sweeps and reverse sweeps. Hashan Tillakaratne (batting coach) and other coaches are specifically speaking about the sweep shots and encouraging us to do that. We have improved in sweeping. When it comes to a spinning wicket we have to play the sweep and that’s an option.”
Dickwella said he wasn’t in two minds playing the sweep despite his captain Dinesh Chandimal falling while attempting a similar shot. “We have to back ourselves 100 percent. We might get out playing positive shots but chances are you may succeed in scoring runs as well. And anyway, only Chandimal got out for the sweep shot.”