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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

June 20, 2019

Dimuth Karunaratne

Headingley, Leeds, England, UK

Q. We have seen England play Bangladesh and you know what they are capable of. What plans do your team have after seeing that match of the way England dominated that game?
DIMUTH KARUNARATNE: I think generally the England side are a good side. I think they have good batting line-up so we know we need to defend less than 300. We have to give them less than 300, so we have a couple of plans against the batters. And, you know, those are the things we are trying to do in the middle as well.

And the batting line-up, you know, actually, the middle part, they need to take some responsibilities to know if they have scored more than 300, you have to definitely go for that. So those are the key things we discussed before the match and we were trying to do them.

Q. You said the middle order taking more responsibility as they have failed to click in the tournament so far. What kind of things have you been working on so that the middle order can come back to form?
DIMUTH KARUNARATNE: I think the only thing is we have to mentally prepare, you know. They have lots of talent and, you know, they did really good things for Sri Lanka in the recent past and I think the only thing we need to do now is come up with a good mindset. That's a key area. If you are playing against good teams, you need a strong mind thing.

We discussed lots about the mindset, you know, and no point talking about the past matches. And already we know what happened with the last four matches and, you know, what are the areas, what are the key areas where the main thing is we lost those matches and we need to have a good mindset and prepare the England game.

There's four games left so we have to play a good, play good, positive cricket with a good mindset.

Q. We saw England hit 25 sixes against Afghanistan and it was pretty destructive. Who do you think is their most dangerous batsman?
DIMUTH KARUNARATNE: I think everyone is a dangerous batsman. If you take and start with their batting line-up, Bairstow, if you take Roy, those are the explosive batsmen, they can change a game. So everyone is -- we are not taking everyone. We are taking everyone as a good batsman and good explosive batsman, so we have a plan for each individual and hopefully it will work in this game.

Q. You said you were going to restrict England to less than 300 runs. Realistically speaking, do you think you have the bowling strength to restrict them for less than 300?
DIMUTH KARUNARATNE: If we don't have, or if we have or if we don't, it would be hard to do that. We need to do something like that. If we don't have good pace, we have to think out of the box so I think that is what we need the last few days what we had to do with the England batters because we played in a home series before with them, so we have a couple of ideas so we need to work on those things in the middle.

Q. At the start of the tournament, everyone was bowling spin to England early as though it was maybe a weakness. Then we saw England hit 110 runs off Rashid Khan. How do you see England's batting against spin?
DIMUTH KARUNARATNE: I think England is the best batting line-up against the spinners in the world, so I think if you take the Asian countries, England are playing better than them, so that is why we need to think about that, check the grounds and what are the combinations we have going through for England game.

Are we playing two spinners? Or are we going with the extra batsman or fast bowlers? Those are the things we are discussing now. The only thing is they are a good side against the spinners so far.

Q. In case you want to leave out a middle-order batsman, you don't have a reserve middle-order batsman in the squad. Do you feel that that is one selection where you got wrong?
DIMUTH KARUNARATNE: No, I think if you take the middle orders, they have lots of experience, they have proven enough for Sri Lanka and they did very well.

I think the only thing is, unfortunately everyone, they couldn't get a start. If you take the middle-order, they couldn't get a start the matches we played so those are the things, that is why they really struggle and they not have confidence to do that, so that is why I told them, you know, to forget about the last four games. We have another four games to go.

And they have to have their hands up to play here. So I said they know to make sure they have good mindset for this game and go for it and you know what you have to do. Go yourself and enjoy the game, that's it.

Q. Things didn't really go in terms of the sort of performance of the game in the ODIs, so what are the areas of concern you have at the moment and what is the update we have on Malinga? Is he with the side? What is the update?
DIMUTH KARUNARATNE: Yeah, he is here with the side. I think his mother-in-law's passed so that is why he went, you know. Those are the things in the end and we have to accept those things and he was keen to come and play. He came yesterday and he was hitting with us and we had a chat, all those things he's doing.

That is what I need, you know. If he want to stay another couple of days, he could, but he came early and we haven't discussed those things.

If you take the batter, I know we couldn't do much better so far, but we were trying, we were practicing hard and everyone is trying to do their best. Only thing is I said we need to mentally prepare. If you lose games, it is not easy to come back harder. If you are strong enough, you can do it.

Q. Is there belief in the squad that you can make the semifinals?
DIMUTH KARUNARATNE: Definitely. If you take all the members, they have done really well. We played against India in Champions' Trophy, they made the final, they are the same side, only a few of the guys are not in the squad. But I think they have the ability to do it, but the only thing is they are not mentally strong enough these days, but I think if you can -- everyone can lift their mentally strong, I think they will be in the semifinals.

Q. The last game you guys brought in Milinda Siriwardana and he only bowled a couple of overs, batted at No. 6 and that led to Dhananjaya dropping down to No. 8. Can you explain the thinking there and is that something you might stick with?
DIMUTH KARUNARATNE: I think Dhananjaya is playing as a bowler right now in the side. I think Milinda is playing as a all-rounder. He was a much harder hitter than Dhananjaya so that is why we bring him to the side.

And we know if someone can bowl the ten overs and we want to know, take that Milinda to cover those overs, so that is what we were thinking, but unfortunately we need to bowl him in the middle overs because they are playing the fast bowlers and they are doing well so they have plenty of overs left, so that is why he bowled two overs.

We are trying things, you know. We want to make sure and give everyone a chance, how they are capable of letting them sitting on the bench. I think that is what we are trying. What we need to know everyone is given a chance and see who can do better in these conditions.

Q. Continuing what you just said about giving everyone a chance. Is there a possibility that a player like Avishka Fernando can play in tomorrow's game?
DIMUTH KARUNARATNE: Definitely. That is why we are checking the sizes and their bowling line-up, who can do better in these conditions and this space, so sometimes he will get a chance tomorrow, but we have not decided the side yet. Definitely everyone will get a chance and definitely Avishka might get a chance for tomorrow.

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