Galle, Sep 23 (IANS) Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva said on Monday after his team's 63-run win in the first Test against New Zealand that his side has the ability to win Test matches against any team.
The Sri Lankan team was struggling with poor form for a long time, but the last few months have been great for this team. Although they have not won any big series yet, they are constantly making big upsets.
Dhananjaya de Silva said the win against New Zealand shows that if the players contribute to the match, they have the ability to beat any opponent in the red ball format.
This was Sri Lanka's second consecutive Test win, having also performed well against England at the Oval earlier this month. Although they lost the series 2-1 against England, they won the final Test of the tour. De Silva credited the Oval win for boosting the team's morale.
After the match, he said, “The victory in England has boosted our morale. We have the ability to win Test matches and our players are performing well now.”
Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand by 63 runs in the first test match played in Galle. On Monday, the fifth day, New Zealand's team could add only 4 runs to their yesterday's score of 207 and were all out for 211 runs. Spinner Prabhat Jayasuriya was awarded the Player of the Match for taking 9 wickets in the match.
The Sri Lanka captain also praised the 152-run second wicket partnership between Karunaratne (83) and Dinesh Chandimal (61), which played a crucial role in scoring 309 runs in the second innings.
However, the skipper feels there is scope for improvement in the lower-order batting and bowling.
The second and final Test match of the series will be played on this ground from 26 September.
–IANS
AMJ/CBT
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