Chandimal: We played as a family

Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal said their clean sweep tour of Bangladesh will boost them for the coming days and make the side in transition forget the struggles of the recent past. Sri Lanka, who reached Dhaka on January 13 this year, first won the tri-nation ODI series despite a poor start where they suffered defeats to Zimbabwe and host Bangladesh. They then lifted the two-match Test series defeating the Tigers 1-0 before whitewashing the home side in the T20I series, registering a convincing 2-0 margin. Sri Lanka in the second and final T20I defeated Bangladesh by 75 runs at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium Sunday. "We had a really bad couple of years. I think now players are getting some confidence and trust. That's the main thing. We didn't just play as a team, we played as a family. That's the main thing. We just mixed up seniors and the youngsters," said Chandimal to the media Sunday. According to Chandimal, Sri Lanka's poor start to the tour where they lost the first two matches in the tri-series to Zimbabwe and Bangladesh by 12 runs and 163 runs respectively had triggered the side to lift themselves from the dilemma.

Kusal Mendis is the Man of the Match and the Man of the Series. -2 fifties -123 runs -178.26 SR #ApeKollek #LionsRoar #OneTeamOneNation pic.twitter.com/6jJ1dODwRw

— Sri Lanka Cricket (@OfficialSLC) February 18, 2018

"It's been a really good series as a team, especially after we lost the first two one-dayers really badly. I thought that gave us morale to come back strongly. That was all due to the hardwork from the players and coaching department. I'm really happy about the way we played through the series," the wicketkeeper-batsman added. Bangladesh playing at home were expected to put up competition every time they faced Sri Lanka. However, except the side's first encounter, in the tri-series last month, it was always Sri Lanka who walked away with victories in all formats of the game – and that too convincingly. When queried if the almost negligible competition from Bangladesh had surprised Team Sri Lanka, Chandimal said, "They are a really good side, especially the last couple of years. They can challenge any team - that's what I know as a player. These things happen to any team. They had a bad couple of games. That's part of cricket. I'm sure they will come back strongly going forward. We just planned to play competitive cricket, and we managed to execute that really well."