'Once he beat that 165, there was no stopping him'- Sri Lanka's assistant coach on Chandimal

Sri Lanka were at their absolute best when they beat Australia in the second Test and levelled the two-match Test series.  Dinesh Chandimal smashed an unbeaten 206 and debutant left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya's magical bowling (six wickets in each innings) assured a series levelling win for the home side.

Sri Lankan assistant coach Naved Newaz was impressed with the way Chandimal batted in the second innings.

"When Chandi came at the end of the day after making a hundred and was going to bat the next day, our conversation was like, Chandi I want you to make your career best today. His previous best was 165 and so we were targeting to beat that, and once he beat that 165 and there was no stopping him," Sri Lankan assistant coach Naved Newaz said to Cricbuzz on Tuesday (July 12).

Newaz talks about giving importance to seniors

He also added that the Silverwood-led coaching staff is trying to give the seniors importance and ownership of the team which has been helping them as well as motivating them to perform. 

He again said, "We made them feel like they own the team and you know the seniors have done such a good service for Sri Lanka cricket and there is lot of appreciation going around that. And it is shown to them as well so that they take ownership and they feel 'this is my own team that I need to play for.”

Meanwhile, Naved also opened up on the aggressive approach of the players being adopted in Test cricket and also said that the pitches in the subcontinent need to be more batting friendly.

He stated, "Now in this era if you look at India, Australia or England they are pushing to play Test cricket to score at five runs an over. 

If we prepare good wickets in the subcontinent and in our country, make conditions where run making is going to be faster (it will be more result oriented). Bowlers also need to work hard to get something from those pitches and I think there will be lot of positivity in the game and Test cricket would be interesting as well."

However, the victory in the second Test helped the Sri Lankan team move up to the third spot in the World Test Championship standings. They will next play against Pakistan who are currently placed fourth in the chart. 

"Pakistan is a strong unit and it is going to be competitive. We are going to sit down one of these days. We are going to play the Pakistanis and we take them very seriously and I think it is very important because it is part of the ICC World Test Championship," concluded Naved Newaz.