India vs Sri Lanka: The worst series of my career, says skipper Dinesh Chandimal

Sri Lankan cricket captain Dinesh Chandimal reacts after the presentation ceremony after Indias victory on the last day of the third and final Test match between Sri Lanka and India at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele on August 14 2017 PicAFPAt a loss to explain Sri Lankas dismal performance against India skipper Dinesh Chandimal today said the 03 thrashing was the worst Test series of his career and his team has no excuses to offerThe hosts were bowled out for 181 in their second innings after following on post their 135run first innings collapse as India won the series 30 to complete acomprehensive whitewashThis was the toughest series in my career no doubt said Chandimal after the third and final Test which Sri Lanka lost by an innings and 171 runs inside three daysThe reason being that we were not able to take the games to five days There have been four day Tests and three day Tests This is the worst series ever Its pretty tough for the team and me Credit goes to India he addedChandimal said he takes complete responsibility for the sides abject surrender But he was hopeful that the team would lift itself in the near futureThey have played outstandingly well in the series I am disappointed that if we could have dragged the game to the fifth day we could have learned something but losing within two and half days you cannot give any excuses he saidAs captain I would like to take the responsibility The fans have always supported us They encourage us always Today we saw despite losing people applauding us That is what the team needs nowWe cannot let the players be mentally down We are doing the process right We might not get results soon but we are confident that the future looks good he added with hopeThe hosts have suffered repetitive batting failures throughout the series particularly in their last three out of four inningsDuring training we are doing a lot of hard work We had some gameplan and we spoke so many things during the game As a player when you have to go to the middle you have to put them to practice That was what the batsmen were unable to doAs players we had to stand up and do our performances well said ChandimalAs an opener you should at least bat for 15 to 20 overs As I said we gave some game plan to each and every playerThey have to execute them when in the middle We failed to do that in the series and that cost us dearly I would say he added highlighting how the batting failed repeatedlySri Lanka have also been plagued by injuries in this series which has hampered their ability to put a fullstrength side onto the parkChandimal however put the blame on seniors including himself saying that they didnt shoulder much responsibilityI would say the main concern is injuries The Australia series we had everyone fit No injuries whatsoever Everyone chipped in This series there are so many injuries starting from Nuwan Pradeep Suranga Lakmal Rangana Herath and then Asela GunaratneThey played some really good cricket in the last six months Thats the main issue I dont want to give excuses We have to perform better than this he saidConsistency has been a huge issue this series Same players cannot perform well in every series As seniors you have to do well Then the youngsters will follow I have lot of faith he addedChandimal hoped that things will fall into place for the team during the October tour of PakistanThe seniors I hope will come back strongly when we take on Pakistan It is very disappointing We could not get into runs We take the blame But we tried hard We worked hard at training We tried hard Bad luck was that all senior failed I hope that everyone will fire in the next series hopefully he saidThe Lankan skipper thought leftarm legspinner Lakshan Sandakan was a bright spark for them while also praising Hardik Pandya and Mohammed ShamiAll teams have the luxury of wrist spinners nowadays He could go for runs but the chances of him getting a wicket is more Chandimal saidHardik batted brilliantly when he came out to the middle The first spell by Shami and Umesh was brilliant At one point we thought as if we were playing in EnglandThey bowled so well making the most of the conditions he added