Pasindu Sooriyabandara, who scored 80 on the second day of the second Test against India at the SSC yesterday, said playing first-class cricket and representing the Sri Lanka A team helped him reach the national side.
Sooriyabandara has played first-class cricket since 2018 and has 14 centuries, four of them double hundreds. He said those matches and the A team gave him experience and maturity. “Playing first-class cricket is good experience for any player. Coupled with playing in the A team is very helpful. It is certainly important for any player to reach international level. The more you play, the more the player will mature,” he said.
He first entered Test cricket when Dinesh Chandimal suffered a concussion and was ruled out of the first Test at Galle. Sooriyabandara replaced Chandimal as a concussion substitute, batted at number three and was dismissed for a golden duck in his first Test innings.
“I couldn’t make use of the first opportunity I got in Test cricket to score some runs for the team at Galle. I thought from the second opportunity I got, that I must contribute something to the team,” Sooriyabandara said at the close of play. “I think the 80 I scored today, I could have gone on to make a bigger score. Although I am happy with my innings, I could have produced a longer knock.”
He said coaches, team-mates, family and supporters backed him after the duck. “That backing is important for any player and I am thankful to them. It’s a big privilege to play for the national team. Once you get there, maturity matters. You have to do your basics right at whatever level you play,” he added.
Sooriyabandara said Sri Lanka’s target for tomorrow was 39 runs to avoid the follow-on. “More than the pacers, the wicket helped the spinners. We have to adapt to it and find ways to score in such conditions. As batsmen, what we could not achieve in the first innings we will try to do in the second,” he said. (Lakbima News)
