Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur feels the young guns have learned a lot in the recent months and the hosts will reap all the rewards in the near future "for sure".
Avishka Fernando (76) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (65) smashed respective fifties to ensure Sri Lanka did not lose the final ODI despite a late wobble. India won the ODI series 2-1 after failing to secure a win in the dead rubber on Friday.
"The growth I have seen in these players has been fantastic and the growth comes from giving them confidence and giving them that consistency that they are going to play. We will see the rewards of that in the future for sure," said Arthur in a virtual press conference.
Arthur said the Sri Lanka players have learned a lot and they just getting better and better with game time.
"They have learned a massive amount and I keep stressing that we are right at the embryonic stage of this journey and it is about us playing against ourselves every day we go out onto the ground. We have got benchmarks, which we want to meet in every game. We are getting better and better," said Arthur.
Further talking about Sri Lanka's growth in recent times, the head coach said," The fact which I like is how we are evolving our game. Our strategies around how we want to bowl, who we want to bowl, how we are looking to get people out. The other night, we got stuck in the middle period because we did not score square of the wicket early enough and we had a long chat about that.
"And to see guys go out there and sweep from the start - shows the evolution of the side. There are so many good little signs on how the guys are evolving and getting better and where the guys want to take their game to," he added.
Hailing Sri Lanka for an "amazing" win over India on Friday, Arthur said," They have been pushed from pillar to post in terms of training. Each day, these guys rock up, wanting to get better. Their work ethic has been nothing short of amazing and last night, we got a little bit of reward for all the efforts these guys have put in."
India and Sri Lanka will lock horns in the second T20I on Sunday at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
