There is no reason to give up captaincy: Upul Tharanga

PTI

New Delhi: A 5-0 ODI series defeat at the hands of Virat Kohli-led Team India raised many questions on the quality of Sri Lankan cricket team, but Upul Tharanga has said that there is no reason for him to give up captaincy.

"There is no reason to give up captaincy. The next selectors' committee will decide how we will move forward. We didn't play well. And in the last two years we have not played well. So, only this set of players can come out of this phase. But we need to plan better and we need to identify what are the areas we can improve on," said Tharanga.

Speaking about the areas which led the team being outclassed by Indians, the Lankan skipper was quick to blame the lack of consistency as one.

"We lacked consistency. We didn't bat, bowl or field well. We were outplayed in the series. I am disappointed with our batting effort. India were very consistent but we failed to get big scores. The Indian top order was making plenty of runs," the skipper said.

With their 248 in 5th ODI being the highest total of the entire series, Tharanga did rue the fact that not posting a single score of above 250 was one of the reasons for Sri Lanka's failure to win a match.

"We committed too many mistakes. As a batting unit, we failed to post decent totals. Even after five games, we failed to post 250 runs even once. I am feeling very disappointed with that. These batting displays are worrying. We lost some seven wickets for 53 runs. That has been something that is happening frequently now. We commit too many mistakes and we need to rectify them soon," a disappointed Tharanga stated.

With the players publicly being criticized for poor form over the past couple of years, Tharanga feels that only players themselves can get them out of this rut.

"As a player and captain, I feel very bad about it. If you take the last two years, we were not up to the mark. We were not consistent, but only these players can get out of this. It is a good opportunity for us to come out of this.

Tharanga said that Sri Lankan youngsters should learn a thing or two about how Virat Kohli goes about converting starts.

"The whole series and prior to that we have spoken about it. Virat is an experienced player. We can learn a lot from him. Kohli's batting was a good example for us. We talk about these things. We need someone who is set to get a big one. But we failed to achieve that," concluded Tharanga. 

(With PTI inputs)