It is very embarrassing to disappoint the home crowd: Dasun Shanaka

Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka has expressed his disappointment in front of the home crowd after his side’s 61-run defeat to New Zealand at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday, February 25.

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Shanaka stated that Mitchell Santner and Cole McConchie’s 84-run partnership took the game away from them in the first innings, despite their bowlers trying their best to break the partnership.

"It is very embarrassing to disappoint the home crowd. You know, they've been very supportive. It's like we started really well, but to be honest, the Santner-McConchie and that partnership, it was a good one, which took the game away from us,” Shanaka said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

"See, we wanted to restrict them around 130, but, you know, our best bowlers bowling at the given time, to be honest, they played really well, so we must give the credit to Mitchell Santner and Cole," he added.

Additionally, Shanaka was disappointed with the way batters turned up in the last two Super8 clashes against England and New Zealand, as they suffered collapses in both games. Notably, Sri Lanka has been eliminated from the campaign with two consecutive defeats.

"Of course, the batsmen will need to take a little responsibility at the top and you know we can't rely on one or two best men in a game, so all the batters need to take the positive option,” he stated.

"Yes, if you get out taking the positive option, you can be, you know, at least you can be relaxed once you come to the dugout, but here it is not the thing, we don't take the chances and it is T20 cricket, you need to show the intent a little bit more,” he concluded.

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