Dilshan speaks about lack of support during his captaincy

August 29, 2016 11:53 pm | Updated 11:53 pm IST - Colombo:

Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan, who has just retired from ODI cricket, suggested he did not have enough support from his teammates during his 10-month stint as captain and was “hurt” by the manner in which he was removed from the post.

Addressing the post-match press conference after the loss to Australia in the third ODI on Sunday night, Dilshan lamented that two former captains gave him no support when he assumed captaincy in 2011.

“When I was hit in the fingers and was unable to play the two former captains refused to captain the side. One of them agreed only after a lot of convincing,” Dilshan said without naming either Kumar Sangakkara or Mahela Jayawardena.

Sangakkara did lead in the third Test in Rose Bowl when Dilshan was forced out of the team by injury.

He said that the current captain Angelo Mathews had refused to bowl citing an injury during Dilshan’s captaincy.

“I was surprised that he started bowling just a week after I was taken off captaincy,” Dilshan said.

Though Dilshan said the manner of his ousting did cause hurt, he insisted he did not let “personal issues” affect his cricket. Sri Lanka’s first assignment after the South Africa tour was the 2012 tri-series in Australia. Dilshan top-scored in that tournament, hitting 513 runs at an average of 51.30.

“At the end of that South Africa series, I put everything aside. I went to Australia, scored 500 runs, and became Man of the Series. It didn’t matter to me who was the captain. I wasn’t concerned about who ousted me as captain. I always play for my country. I didn’t worry about those personal things, but I was hurt.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.