Lankan coach disappointed with batting show

Nic Pothas, Sri Lanka's interim coach, seems to attend every third press conference by his team, and more so when they have a bad day which has been quite often whenever they have played India in recent times. Friday's opening day of the second Test was another of those days, and Pothas tried to cast a protective net around his players. Excerpts:    

On the conservative approach in the first session: The first session of a Test match, you try to set a base and try to bat for a long time. You try and bat for a day and a bit if you win the toss. The new ball spells are always tough and you try to blunt that. I thought India bowled well, I don't think there were too many free balls going that we missed out on, but we adapted after lunch.

On whether Lanka are back to square one after their win over Pakistan: You never go back to square one. It was a disappointing day. There were no demons on that wicket. We keep going back to Pakistan (win), that was a long time back, but today was a different story and we didn't bat as well as we should have done.

On dismissals to bad shots: The captain made a decision (to play reverse sweep) at that time, we empower the batsmen to make decisions in the middle. He obviously felt that was the way to score runs at that point, and didn't come off. I probably say that maybe the timing of that shot was perhaps not at his best. He is playing well and he is confident and we back our batsmen to be positive. You can be there  forever and block it.

On the way forward: We have to execute plans. The wicket has got no demons. It hasn't spun, it hasn't seamed. There were six straight-ball dismissals. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja got wickets bowling stump to stump. At this level, you can't be missing straight balls.

Jadeja and Ashwin's impact on Lankans: In the last series, the wickets spun. You are talking of the two top spinners of the world. It was a different kettle of fish. Here the wicket has not done anything. All that it has done is to skid on a bit. The first day of a Test match what you have done on a wicket that has not done much is losing seven wickets to spin. It is a disappointing change-room and the guys have set themselves high standards. They are going to be disappointed. In any process, you are going to have those disappointments.