Muttiah Muralitharan reacts on Mickey Arthur’s on-field frustration

After coming from a dismaying ODI and T20I series against England, the Sri Lankan cricket team was yet again placed under scrutiny for their display against India in the ongoing series. Though India pretty comfortably secured victory in the first ODI, the hosts were almost up to defeat in the next game, but it slipped off Sri Lanka’s hands. After the match, Sri Lanka’s head coach Mickey Arthur seemed to be frustrated. Reacting to his approach, Muttiah Muralitharan asserted that Arthur should have been composed.

Arthur made some gestures from the dressing room towards the tail end of the match wherein Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took India to the finish line. Sri Lanka had complete control over the game when they reduced India to 193-7 but eventually lost the game due to Chahar’s heroics with the willow. They lost the series and post that the coach was seen arguing with captain Dasun Shanaka, which Muralitharan feels wasn’t the right way to deal with the situation.

Often in such scenarios, it becomes crucial that the players in the team are in a good frame of mind and are guided well. The Sri Lankans which lacked some experienced key players struggled to continue their hold on the match which would have disappointed them. Opening about it Muralitharan opined that Arthur should have been calm in conveying his inputs to the young skipper.

“I think the coach was acting like, showing himself disappointed and everything, rather than just calm down and send some messages,” Muralitharan told ESPNcricinfo.

Sri Lanka have forgotten the winning ways: Muttiah Muralitharan

Despite having the game in their pocket, the hosts couldn’t secure victory. The Sri Lankan team isn’t having the best of the times on the ground and Muralitharan feels that they are struggling to find their winning ways.

“I told you before, Sri Lanka didn’t know the winning ways, they have forgotten the winning ways for the last so many years. It has been tough for them because they have not (known) how to win a match,”

Wanindu Hasaranga had scalped three wickets in the match to help the team take the driving seat. But his overs were kept reserved and Muralitharan asserted that it wasn’t a good idea to do so as a few more wickets would have fallen in Sri Lanka’s favour.

“And also they (Sri Lanka) made some mistakes. They should have bowled Wanindu Hasaranga, rather than keeping him, they should have bowled him and try to take a wicket,” he said.