Shakib-Miraz are the main obstacle for SL, says Arthur

|| CF DESK ||

Sri Lanka has completed their final preparations before the last match of the ODI series. Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur spoke to the media on Thursday [May 27], where he said, spinners Shakib al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz are the main obstacle for Sri Lanka.

After finishing the practice session, he said “We battled to come to terms with the spinners [Shakib-Miraz], which is very surprising for me. The batsmen I see out in the nets are totally different to the batsmen who have gone out in the middle. Whether it is performing under pressure or fear of failure – those are things you have to take out of their mind. They are all very skilled batsmen, particularly against spin. They haven’t shown that yet but I am looking for a really good performance tomorrow,” he said.

Sri Lanka lost the first match by 33 runs. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 224 in reply to Bangladesh's 246 runs. In the second match the Lankans batting performance was even more disappointing as a result they lost the match by huge margin 103-run.

Arthur is expecting better performance from the batsmen in the last match of the series. "The batting is not going well for us. We have to play independently and believe in our own abilities,” he said. However, the Sri Lankan coach praised Shakib, Tamim and Mushfiq for their performance.

“Shakib, Tamim and Mushfiq have played over 200 games. Mahmudullah is close on 200 games. (Along with) Mustafiz and Mehidy, they are a very good unit in their own conditions now. We were expecting really tough competition from Bangladesh. They have certainly given us that,” added Arthur.