Dimuth advised by Hannan Sarkar to not lose heart
Hannan Sarkar very well remembered his first ball wicket taker in the world cup match was Chaminda Vaas.
Mumbai: Former Bangladeshi opener Hannan Sarkar has a message for Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne, who, on Friday lost the wicket off the first ball in a World Cup match (against South Africa at the Riverside Gound, Chester-le-Street).
Sarkar, Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe), and New Zealand's Martin Guptill are the other opening batsmen having been out first ball in the World Cup matches.
Guptill was a victim in the current World Cup match.
Hannan Sarkar very well remembered his first ball wicket taker in the world cup match was Chaminda Vaas (versus Sri Lanka at Pietermaritzburg, 2003).
Speaking exclusively over telephone from Bangladesh, the former right-handed batsman, Sarkar says, "my message to Dimuth is : don't get upset. It can happen with any batsman. Even world's greatest opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar was out first ball in a Test match".
"Yes, it feels very bad when one gets out first ball. But no different feelings even if it is a world cup match. For players, it is like any other (one day) match. All matches have important value for them".
"Dimuth, being a captain, has to lead from the front. But he is like a batsman in the team and should not lose his heart".
"Sri Lankan captain has to forget the bad things and think positive", concluded Sarkar.