We back batsmen to be positive, but need to execute plans: Pothas

Nic Pothas, the Sri Lanka coach, defended his team's approach with the bat on the opening day of the second Test against India in Nagpur on Friday, but also lauded the Indian bowlers for their discipline that led to Sri Lanka being bowled out for 205.

Having managed to stave off defeat in Kolkata, Sri Lanka failed to capitalise on the advantage of having the first hit after winning the toss. More than 50% of Sri Lanka's runs were scored by Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal, who scored half-centuries.

“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. 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. It was a disappointing day. No demons on that wicket,” said Pothas after the day’s play.

Having been reduced to 60 for 3 at one stage, Karunaratne, Chandimal and, to some extent, Niroshan Dickwella tried to dig Sri Lanka out of trouble with decent partnerships but once Karunaratne and Dickwella perished, Chandimal had no option but to try and take the attack to the Indian spinners.

Before falling to R Ashwin for 57 while attempting a reverse sweep, the Sri Lanka captain showed good skills during his 122-ball stay. “The captain made a decision at that time, we empower the batsmen to make decisions in the middle,” said Pothas. “He obviously felt that that was the way to score runs at that point, 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.”

Dickwella, meanwhile, wasted no time in switching to his flamboyant avatar, and soon paid for playing one shot too many – an attempted hoick after going down the pitch. He fell with the team total at 160 and 45 runs later the entire side was shot out.

“In hindsight, that’s what the numbers tell you. We let ourselves down from that point onwards,” conceded Pothas. “You can’t say that if Niroshan Dickwella gets out, the rest will get out too. He is a positive batter and that’s a shot he plays well. I don’t want to stop him being himself. I want people to bat the way the bat and he is the kind of player who transfers pressure back to the bowlers. Certainly not going to say that just because he got out, others got out too.

“We have to execute plans. It hasn’t spun, it hasn’t seamed. There were six straight ball dismissals. International level no surprise. Ashwin and (Ravindra) Jadeja got wickets bowling stump to stump."

Ashwin and Jadeja, who spent most of the time as spectators in the last match, were once again entrusted to do most of the damage on the day. While Ashwin bagged four wickets, Jadeja finished with three.

“You are talking of the two top spinners of the world,” said Pothas. “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 when you have a wicket that has not done much, you lose seven wickets to spin. It is a disappointing change room and the guys have set themselves high standards. They are going to be disappointed.

“It’s a change of angle (round the wicket). Ashwin is an intelligent bowler with some subtle variations. He is going to be handful on any wicket he is going to play. But that’s not the first time that we have faced right-arm offspin from round the wicket. At the time, you are asking batsmen to adapt and be flexible for conditions.”