Karunaratne eyes new beginning for Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka cleanswept Bangladesh 3-0 in the ODI series. © Getty

Having won their maiden home series in 44 months, Sri Lanka celebrated their 3-0 ODI series victory over Bangladesh with much pomp. There were fireworks at the R Premedasa and the players went on a motorbike ride inside the stadium after they registered their third comprehensive win on the bounce; on Wednesday, trouncing Bangladesh by 122 runs.

The build-up to the series was significant with Lasith Malinga set to retire after the opening game. The last match was dedicated to another pacer - Nuwan Kulasekara - who too hung his boots. Sri Lanka managed to give a fitting farewell to the duo but more importantly, they have given a spark of a possible revival in their cricket, which has been on a downhill. Despite punching slightly above expectations in the recently-concluded world cup, they had delivered their poorest performance in the mega tournament this century. With this series, they are hoping for a fresh beginning.

"Yes [it's a new beginning for us]," Dimuth Karunaratne, Sri Lanka skipper, said on Wednesday (July 31). "I think after the World Cup we had to start again, and this time, we have to find some new talents. We have a couple of tours both home and away and we are looking forward to giving the opportunities to the players and find some new talents. We want to form the best 15 players for the next World Cup,"

"We wanted to win and after a long time, we have won a series. And I think we need to celebrate it, and after that we have a tough challenge against New Zealand and we have to focus on that. For now, we will be celebrating and from tomorrow we will focus on that."

The Sri Lankan skipper lauded the contribution of the senior players in helping him work around in the leadership role. "I speak to Angelo and Lasith all the time, they have given me support," he said. "I am still learning and I have a lot to improve in my captaincy. The players who have played plenty of matches have kept supporting me.

"They have given me suggestions sometimes and that's what I want to do, to involve everyone and do the right things. All the players and supporting staff have supported me and I am trying to do my job properly and trying to keep things nice and easy."

Mathews, who stroked his 40th ODI fifty in Sri Lanka's 122-run win, was adjudged the Player of the Match in the third one-dayer, as also the Player of the series for amassing 187 runs.

"Angelo is tough and very experienced. He knows his game very well, that's why he succeeds with the bat," Karunaratne said. "If he can bowl us a couple of overs then its a huge plus to Sri Lanka."

More importantly, Karunaratne was pleased with the effort of the younger players, and believes they will be getting a lot more opportunities in the upcoming series. He is hoping for them to continue their good showing, which will enable Sri Lanka to create a strong bench strength.

"They all are pretty good players and I just wanted to give them the chance. Because after this match we don't have much ODI matches and I think they grabbed the chance pretty well. All the players who played today, they put their hands up and did a great job. That's what we want you know, having a competition and having a strong bench.

"Sometimes players get injured and then we can easily replace the players. And now I think it's the reason that we have to build a strong line up. And they did pretty good. I think this time we have brought some youngsters and will keep grooming them for the next couple of years," he concluded.