TIL Desk Sports/ Indian batsmen have done their homework and will not allow Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath to wreck them again at Galle, captain Virat Kohli said on the eve of the first Test between the neighbours on Tuesday.
The burly left-arm spinner claimed seven wickets in the fourth innings to derail India’s 176-run chase in the last Test they played at Galle in 2015.
India went on to win the next two matches to clinch the series 2-1 and Kohli said his team have learnt their lesson from that series.”He’s a quality bowler. Last time he really dented us in that small chase,” Kohli said of Herath, who will lead Sri Lanka in the series opener in absence of ailing regular skipper Dinesh Chandimal.
“It was actually a great eye-opener for us. We worked on those things in the next two games and were able to win the series. He played both the games and the ball was still doing a bit but our batsmen had counter-plans in place.”Herath managed eight wickets in the remaining four innings as the Indians appeared to have found a way to deal with Sri Lanka’s spin spearhead.