'Freedom doesn't mean swinging at every ball' – Dimuth Karunaratne

Following Sri Lanka's impressive six-wicket win over New Zealand in the first Test in Galle, wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella had spoken about the freedom players receive under Karunaratne's captaincy. "What Dimuth says is go and do what you want to do, and what you feel you can do," Dickwella had said. "If we make a mistake, he'll pull us aside and say this happened, 'why don't we fix that mistake for next time?' He talks a lot about being confident about your abilities. And he gives you that confidence."

However, after the heavy defeat in Colombo, Karunaratne has asserted that he wants his batsmen to use their freedom judiciously. "When I say players should be free, I don't mean that you just hit every ball that you see," he said after the Test on Monday, 26 August.

"It's about keeping your mind free. If you at any time feel like you should play the reverse-sweep but you stop yourself, you're restricting yourself. There are times when you can get runs from that shot, and when it's a safe option. It's about being relaxed. Freedom doesn't mean swinging at every ball. It's about playing with confidence.

"At times I felt our players really lacked patience. A Test is a very valuable thing, and batsmen should know how to play according to the situation. They should know how to handle that freedom."

Coming into the game with a 1-0 lead, Sri Lanka made a decent start in the second Test, putting up 244 on the board. However, apart from the skipper, centurion Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis, no other batsman crossed the 30-run mark.

Karunaratne lamented Sri Lanka's failure to score really big in that innings, considering New Zealand declared at a massive 431/6 in the innings after that. He criticised the application from his side, not shying away from turning the spotlight on his mistakes.

"It was a pretty good wicket in the first innings, and we didn't execute our shots very well. The batsmen probably thought it was going to be a good, flat wicket and so the application wasn't there.

"Even me, after getting 60 [65], I played a rash shot [in the first innings]. It was a good wicket and you have to put up a good score on it. The Kiwis batted really well. They put up huge totals and put us under pressure."

Sri Lanka will now take on New Zealand in three Twenty20 Internationals in Pallekelle, on 1, 3 and 6 September.