DELHI, Tuesday: Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas questioned the timing of the umpires coming off for bad light after Sri Lanka had lost two wickets in one over to left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja on the fourth day of the third and final Test played at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium here Tuesday.
“I am sure the light meter is absolutely spot-on, no doubt it but to me it looked too much of a coincidence to lose a wicket to see suddenly it’s too dark for the seamers and we lose two wickets to spin and then it’s too dark and we are off. Can the light deteriorate that quick I don’t know,” said Pothas at the end of the day.
“If India is playing against a very good cricket team, momentum is a big thing in sport and luck plays a big part sometimes you just want a little bit of the rub of the green. It’s not ideal to lose three wickets it is frustrating at the end of the day.
“If we look back on the day we did pretty well in the morning to extend our innings and I thought we bowled pretty well upfront. But yet it’s frustrating. There is nothing to discuss I back their (umpires) decision,” he said.
Sri Lanka left with an overwhelming target of chasing 410 for victory was limping at 36-3 by the sudden flurry of wickets towards the end of the day.
When the question of the smog was raised again Pothas replied, “We decided at practice this morning we are not going to discuss it and not going to talk about it. The situation is what it is, you get out there do the job. The bottom line is we are here to play a Test match and there is a professional bunch of people in our change room and we are very positive about our talk, about the way be behave and the way we adapt to certain situations.”
Pothas admitted that there were some medical tests done on the Lankan players but he had no idea on what it was for.
“There was some tests done and I am not a doctor I’ve no idea what these tests tell you, what we are testing, why are we testing, it doesn’t make anything to get away with the situation. A situation is a situation so let’s get on with it,” said Pothas. “The guys did fantastically well throughout the day and had great attitude. We saw at the end of today (Mohammad) Shami also struggling. The guys have done superbly well to deal with the situation.”
Talking of the final day’s play Pothas said: “If you go skeptical and careful we are heading for trouble. It’s for us to have a discussion in the change room.
There won’t be very many fancy plays taking place on the last day of the Test. Seven wickets in hand and the wicket is very good, there won’t be anything confusing or complex the way we go about tomorrow.”
WHATEVER THE SITUATION YOU NEED TO ADJUST - DHAWAN
Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan said that the Sri Lankan players were feeling uncomfortable because they may be having less pollution at home because of the beaches.
“There are more beaches in Sri Lanka. It’s natural that a city surrounded by beaches won’t have pollution. Of course they may be feeling. As I said I won’t hide that there is pollution in Delhi. Now if it’s there, it’s there. You can’t help it. Maybe they are feeling it more, I don’t know. But still I would insist that we should do our duty – that is to play cricket,” said Dhawan.
“There are a lot of players in our team who are not used to this pollution thing in Delhi as they come from other states. But if you have been assigned a job (to play), you can’t let anything come on its way. The situation is the same for them also.
If you are playing in Delhi at some other point of time, the pollution won’t affect you. During the winters there is a lot of smog, so whatever the situation is, we need to adjust accordingly,” he said.