The Lankan head coach stood firm in upholding his team's playstyle amidst suggestions for them and rest of the globe to follow England's footprints.
In a Test match where Pakistan have shown early markers of inclining towards England’s ultraggressive ‘Bazball’ approach, Sri Lankan head coach Chris Silverwood insisted his team isn’t focusing on imbibing and executing the famous ploy and wouldn’t wish to play like “anybody else”.
With Pakistan opener Shan Masood confirming a tweak in strategy for his team after they batted for 5 an over in the initial half of their first-innings in the Galle Test, word has done the round that the Asian giants now wish to undergo their batting stints along England’s path taken since the last summer. Providing a sense of vindication to the ploy’s pioneers skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
But just when many thought other teams would follow Pakistan’s footsteps in going the England way, Silverwood, the Lankan head, made it clear there is no such strategic transformation in the offing from his troops and they would continue embracing their own playstyle.
Silverwood said results may not have always fallen to the desired lines but Sri Lanka have shown when they implement their approach to the best extent, they come out looking a significantly better side, especially in home conditions.
Speaking to the press after Day 3 of the Galle Test where Pakistan took a giant first-innings lead of 149 after posting a mammoth 461 in response to Sri Lanka’s 312 all out, the coach stressed he is mindful of areas of improvement for his Test team but doesn’t think they need drastically change their approach in order to regain the dominating streak.
Bazball for Sri Lanka? Chris Silverwood isn’t too keen. #SLvPAK
“We don’t want to be anybody else, we want to be Sri Lanka. We want to embrace what we are and embrace our culture and play the way that we do.” pic.twitter.com/a9bVABUlYC
— Estelle Vasudevan (@Estelle_Vasude1) July 18, 2023
“You’re always thinking about ‘okay how can we do things better’ but the fact is we have to do it our way,” Silverwood said. “And one of the feelings in the dressing room that we’re very strong about is that we don’t want to be anybody else, we want to be Sri Lanka.”
“We want to embrace what we are and embrace our culture and play the way that we do. And I think we’ve shown in the past that when we get that right, we compete with people. So I actually don’t want to go too far away from how we do things because the dressing room is obviously Sri Lanka. So let’s be Sri Lanka.”
