Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka has responded to England skipper Harry Brook’s “worst pitch” comment by saying the surface at the R. Premadasa Stadium was not that bad, especially when both teams together scored 440 runs in the second ODI in Colombo on January 24. His remarks came after Brook described it as the “worst pitch” he had ever played on, despite England comfortably chasing down 220 to level the series 1-1.
Ahead of the third ODI, Asalanka shared his opinion on the pitch and said, “That was his opinion – mine might be a bit different. If he says this is the worst pitch he’s seen, that’s something he feels. But between the two teams we hit 440 runs.”
Asalanka also gave a reference to a past match to explain his point. Talking about the 2023 World Cup game, he said, “If you looked at the 2023 World Cup – they’d only got 180 [actually 156] in that game, and no one said anything about the pitch. I don’t know why he’s saying this now. I guess we’ll see what is said after the next match.”
Even though Asalanka defended the pitch, he admitted it was not ideal for batting. “I didn’t expect the pitch for the second match would be like that. We had got 270-280 in the first match and no one likes to get fewer runs than that, because you’ve got to give your bowlers something to defend.”
He added, “Unfortunately the pitch for the second match had changed from the first game. That said, it still wasn’t a 220-run pitch – my goal while batting had been to get to 250 or 260.”
The series decider will be played on January 27 in Colombo.
For latest sports updates: Follow RevSportz
