Players are in discomfort but no use talking about it: Lanka coach

TIL Desk Sports/ Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas, on Tuesday, again said that his players’ ‘discomfort (owing to pollution) speaks for itself’ and wondered why the state cricket body, DDCA, sent a local doctor to test their players. A doctor from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) arranged by the DDCA tested a few Sri Lankan players and then came to the media lounge claiming that all is well with them.

A few hours later, he retracted his statement requesting all not to quote him. When Pothas was asked whether the claim made by the said doctor was correct, he replied, “There were some tests done. I have no idea what they were so it doesn’t tell you we saw. At the end of the day, (Mohammed) Shami was also struggling. Our guys did superbly well to deal with the situation.

“I have no idea what these tests tell you, what we are testing and why are testing, it doesn’t make anything get away,” Pothas sounded irritated. Asked about Suranga Lakmal, who threw up in the morning after bowling his first spell, Pothas said, “He didn’t feel very well and came off a little bit of steam. It’s not easy.” Pothas then sounded like he wanted to get over with the discussions regarding pollution.