Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva said the key to their success in Bangladesh was aggressive cricket, which they played to the precision to sweep the two-match Test series with absolute ease.
The visitors started the tour with 2-1 margin win in the three-match T20 series before losing the ODI series at the same margin. But in Test cricket, they demonstrated their skill, patience and perseverance to get the better of Bangladesh.
Having done so, Sri Lanka kept its record intact of not losing any Test on Bangladesh soil.
“We’re very satisfied with the win. There are many areas for us to improve, and I’ve talked about those with the team and the coaches are working towards that. If we can learn day by day and raise our game by 1%, we can make winning a habit,” de Silva said after the second and final Test, which his side won by 192 runs to complete a series sweep.
Sri Lanka won the first Test by 328 runs after de Silva himself and Kamindu Mendis hit centuries in both innings of the Test.
“Sometimes you have to be a little aggressive. In a country like this where you’re playing in heat, sometimes some players get lethargic. But if in the field me or someone else dives around a little bit and makes a good stop, everyone gets a little boost,” he said.
“I’m trying to keep the other 10 players in the game. I’m not saying I need to be harsh, but I do think you need to have a bit of aggression when you lead.”
As part of their aggressive cricket strategy, de Silva included three quicks into the team and they played to their full potential to bring it home.
“As a captain I think more than going with a spinner on a dead wicket, I like to play a more aggressive brand of cricket, and go with fast bowlers,” he said. “That’s why we went with three quicks. Our bowlers don’t need to have grass on the track to get wickets, and they proved that.”
But the start of the Test series was horrible for Sri Lanka as they were reduced to 57-5 in the morning session of the first innings of the first Test. Thanks to de Silva and Kamindu, Sri Lanka recovered from that precarious stage to win the Test series.
“When we are coming here to Bangladesh, we know it’s going to be good for the batsmen. Their idea is always to get runs. They were disappointed because they didn’t get runs in Sylhet. But they came back, and it was pretty easy for me to handle the other things,” he remarked.
“To get a wicket is really hard here. It’s very hot with the sun, and there was not a lot of life in the pitch, so we had to work very hard. Because of our batters’ talents, we were able to have a massive first-innings lead. That was very advantageous for our bowlers.”
