Aravinda de Silva backs struggling Sri Lankan batsmen

Aravinda de Silva, the legendary batsman, has come to the defence of the struggling Sri Lankan batsmen in the ongoing bilateral series against South Africa. Although he is disappointed with the overall performance of the batsmen in the series so far, de Silva also sees a few positives, one of them being Niroshan Dickwella's aggression at the top of the order.

Sri Lanka were whitewashed in the three-match Test series and suffered three straight defeats in the five-match One Day International (ODI) series with two games to go. The Sri Lankans did win the Twenty20 International (T20I) series, but it was against a depleted South African side. The team's batsmen in particular have struggled in South Africa and towards the tail end of the tour, there have been just seven half-centuries. Niroshan Dickwella's 74 in the third ODI in Johannesburg is the highest score by a Sri Lankan batsman across all three formats in the current tour.

"It's disappointing that some of the more experienced batsmen haven't fared that well in South Africa. I don't think its a reason to be disheartened. I am impressed with the aggression that someone like Niroshan Dickwella has shown," de Silva told Cricbuzz.

"The selectors need to identify the batsmen they are going to back. Once they do that, they need to stick with them at any cost. Batsmen like Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva are young and you have to let them settle down and once they are exposed to these harsher realities they will be better off. Those are two players who are extremely talented and they will come good in the longer run. It's important to back these guys and give them confidence. Once they lose confidence, it's vey tough to rebuild it," he said.

Dinesh Chandimal, Sri Lanka's vice-captain, has also struggled - after 12 innings in South Africa, he is yet to make a half-century. De Silva was of the opinion that the 27-year-old needs to work on the mental side of things in order to get back to his run-scoring ways. "He has played lot of cricket. You have to sit him down and talk to him. When you get to this level, it's a psychological game. He needs to get the mental side right. He has to address his shot selection and execution," de Silva remarked.

De Silva, who heads SLC's Cricket Committee - the body that advices the board on cricket-related matters - said honest sessions with the players is a must to understand their struggles and chalk out the way forward. "Once the team returns, we need to have some sessions and we need to be honest in finding solutions to some of the problems and find out how we can improve."

Traditionally, Sri Lankans have struggled in South African conditions. They have lost 11 of the 13 Tests and 27 of the 43 ODIs in South Africa. De Silva agreed that it is a tough place to travel and that the current tour would serve as a learning experience for the young team. "It's a tough place to play cricket. We struggle on those wickets. It's different to what you get in Australia or England. I would say it's a mixture of both. When they leave grass, it's difficult to play shots, which is one of our strengths. There's always deviation as well. You need experience to understand what it takes to succeed in South Africa.

"This was a young side and most of the guys were new to these conditions. If you take the Test series, someone like Rangana Herath, who is ranked among the best of bowlers in the world struggled. He could not make a big impact. It's wasn't that he was not good, but conditions were made to suit the home team fast bowlers," de Silva remarked.