"We have beaten the Number 1 team in the world" - Sanath Jayasuriya proud of Sri Lanka's historic ODI series victory over India
Sri Lanka's interim head coach Sanath Jayasuriya has hailed his players for putting in the hard work following their historic ODI series win over India. The former Sri Lanka captain opined that batting continuously for hours and hours in practice gave them confidence to upstage the No. 1 side.
The hosts were short on confidence after India sealed a 3-0 series sweep in the T20Is. However, they turned things around in a sensational manner. The Lankans started the rubber by tying against the tourists and won the next two fixtures to seal their first bilateral ODI series victory over India in 27 years.
Speaking after Sri Lanka's 110-run win in the third ODI on Wednesday, August 7, Jayasuriya claimed the seven-day coaching program from Zubin Bharucha of the Rajasthan Royals was supremely helpful. The 55-year-old reckons things fell in place as the series progressed, causing the players to feel more confident. As quoted by Cricbuzz, he stated:
"I got Zubin from Rajasthan Royals and he came and did a seven-day coaching program. We learnt a lot, the players learnt a lot on how to bat long innings, and one batsman was batting 2-3 hours. That gave the batters a lot of confidence. The players only need confidence. If they get some runs on the board, if they are bowling well, if someone gets starts and gets big runs, so those are the little things they can get the confidence high. At the end of the day, we have beaten the Number 1 team in the world."
While Sri Lanka were fortunate to win all three toss, they also batted well. They made scores of 230, 240, and 248 - all of which proved to be beyond India's reach.
"I hope they will find a good coach" - Sanath Jayasuriya
With Jayasuriya set to depart after the Test series against England, he hopes the board finds a strong full-time candidate to build on their success against India.
"Sri Lanka cricket is looking for a coach at the moment. I stepped in for two series: the India series and the England series. They will look for a coach, I'm there as an in-charge for high performance but I will support Sri Lanka cricket. I must thank SLC, they have given everything possible for the players and for our support staff. Also, I hope they will find a good coach to bring these youngsters to a higher level and continue the winning streak," Jayasuriya said (as per the aforementioned source).
Dunith Wellalage earned the Player of the series award and bowled an excellent spell of 5/27 in the third ODI.