South Africa thrashed Sri Lanka by 113 runs in the second ODI at SuperSport Park, Centurion to take a lead of 2-0 in the five-match ODI series. Sri Lanka captain, Lasith Malinga was not pleased with Sri Lanka’s performance at all. In fact, he came hard at his teammates after Sri Lanka put up a poor show yet again.
He said, “I think they [Sri Lankan [players] didn’t understand. I feel this is not a gift. They have talent. That’s why they’re playing for the national team. They have to understand that. They have to understand their own value. We have done enough talking. Players have to realise they have to value these opportunities. They don’t come around every day. They have to grab it.”
“First 10-15 overs we did not bowl well. But we corrected ourselves and restricted them to 250. Very good effort from the bowlers,” added Malinga.
Sri Lanka had registered a historic Tests series over South Africa. But, they have failed to live up to the billing in the ODI series thus far. The 2019 Cricket World Cup isn’t too far away, so this doesn’t bode well for the no.8 ranked Sri Lanka and they need to improve their performance sooner than later.