Sri Lankan captain Dhananjaya de Silva said he was more focused on Kusal Mendis’s century than Kamindu Mendis’s double century during the Test match against New Zealand in Galle. Sri Lanka’s win in the tournament helped them reach the top three in the World Test Championship.
Kamindu Mendis was unbeaten on 182 runs when the team declared their first innings at 602 runs. Kamindu was close to setting a unique world record by surpassing 1,000 Test runs. At 25 years old, he also became the fastest Asian batter to reach five centuries in just 13 Test innings.
The match was declared an hour after lunch, although New Zealand had initially planned to start batting earlier.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Dhananjaya de Silva explained that he didn’t declare the innings until Kusal Mendis completed his century, even though Kamindu was approaching his double century. Dhananjaya mentioned that Kamindu still achieved his world record of 1,000 Test runs.
He said that since Kusal hadn’t scored a century in a long time, he wanted to give him the opportunity. If Dhananjaya had let the team bat for two more overs, Kamindu could have reached his double century, but he declared the innings right after Kusal got his hundred.
Dhananjaya said that his decision would have been the same for any player, whether it was Kamindu, Chandimal, Dimuth, or Mathews. He emphasized that the decision was made for the benefit of the team, and today’s victory is a result of that choice.
