Kumar Sangakkara expects things to be different this time around when his side takes on Bangladesh in the second Test in Chittagong on Tuesday after a surprisingly easy win in Dhaka, the veteran Sri Lankan batsman said on Sunday. ‘So the earlier game was easier than we thought it would be, but we expect it to be different here,’ Sangakkara said at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong, where Sri Lanka were training ahead of the second Test after their massive innings and 248-run victory in Dhaka, during which fellow Sri Lankan star Mahela Jayawardene suggested that the hosts may have given up a little.
‘We’re pretty much used to Bangladesh putting up a pretty good fight usually. They pushed us in the Test series over there, and we walked away with a 1-all in the one-day series,’ he said, recalling Bangladesh’s tour of Sri Lanka in March last year, which saw the Tigers set a number of national batting records in the first Test.
The former captain also said that his team might have to change the way it attacked the hosts’ batsmen despite using the short ball frequently to great effect in the first Test because of the different playing conditions in the port city.
‘[It will be] hard to use the same strategy, because the wicket looks quite different from there to now, but even on this track a short ball can be useful.’
‘We don’t really know what we we’ll plan for the batsmen, but our job is to do the basics well; put the ball in the right areas. If we have a specific strategy, [we have] to make sure the bowlers bowl to that field and that strategy.’
Sangakkara also made it clear that the straight-forward nature of their first Test victory would not affect the way Sri Lanka approached the rest of the tour.
‘Whether we are complacent or not can only be seen when we start playing. They guys usually are very good in their preparation. Complacency is not something we think about or pay much attention to. We just go through our preparation process really well.’
‘Pressure is something that’s constant. It’s not really something you think about. If you can’t handle pressure, it’s no use walking out there in the middle. Pressure is something you face every day.’
-With New Age input
