Sri Lanka would come back strongly, feels Kaluwitharana
Mumbai, Jan 14 (PTI) Former explosive batsman RomeshKaluwitharana has no doubt in his mind that Sri Lanka willtide over the bad times and make a strong comeback ininternational cricket.
"All the teams go down the course for sometime, you havegood times and bad times. They (Sri Lanka) are not doing wellat the moment, but definitely in the time to come they willcome back strong and I hope they do it pretty fast," 48-year-old Kaluwitharana told reporters here.
He was speaking after jerseys of teams of the SAI-MumbaiMasters T20 League were launched.
Quizzed what needs to be changed in Sri Lankan cricket,he quipped, "There are people who are doing it, seeing whereit going wrong. They will do the right thing."Sri Lanka have been struggling in international cricketin recent times. They lost the Test, ODI and T20 seriesagainst India.
Earlier, they also lost an ODI series against Pakistan 5-0, besides losing an ODI series to Zimbabwe at home.
Asked who are the players who can lead Sri Lanka'srevival, Kaluwitharana said there were five-six players whowould be instrumental in bringing the team on board.
"There are more than 3-4 players who can do it for thenational team, get the team back on track, to play competitivecricket and get the winning momentum going," he said.
"It is matter of time that the players have theirconfidence level high and believe in being themselves anddelivering their achievements."Asked specifically to name the players, Kaluwitharanasaid, "No (I won't as) it is not fair for someone who is ayoung player and better than senior players, there are 5-6good players (who) can get Sri Lanka team back on the track."He also suggested that playing positive cricket wasimportant for the Indian team to bounce back in the three-match Test series.
India lost the first Test by 72 runs in Cape Town aftertheir batsmen faltered in the second innings against a strongSouth African attack.
"It is quite different than the other times you play inSouth Africa, they are making green and fast wickets. Playingpositive cricket will be the key, India will come back strong(in current series in South Africa)," Kaluwitharana, whoplayed 189 ODIs and 49 Tests, signed off. PTI NRB ATKATK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.