Defeating Pakistan best moment: Pothas

COLOMBO: United Arab Emirates had been a fortress of sorts for Pakistan who were unbeaten there since the gulf region became their adopted home in 2010.

Pakistan had never lost a Test series there when an unfancied Sri Lankan side beat them in a two-match series. Nic Pothas, who quit his Sri Lankan job last week, was the Head Coach at that point and he pointed out the series win was the highest point during his tenure.

Pothas, in an interview with Cricbuzz, explained that taking up the Sri Lankan job was one of the toughest things he had done, replacing his mentor Graham Ford, who was his coach at South Africa almost two decades ago. “Fordy, as you know, was my guru. I was hurt like everyone when he stepped down. I had a long chat with him before I even thought of taking up as Head Coach,” the 44-year-old said. “I have been mostly a skills coach rather than a Head Coach. This was an opportunity for me to improve so I didn’t want to miss out as well.” The former South African international credited team spirit for the success against Pakistan, although there were several lows amidst the high for Pothas as Sri Lanka’s head coach.

“I believe that playing India twice last year and then taking on Pakistan improved Sri Lankan cricket. It was an interesting time. Just prior to the Pakistan series, a new selection panel had come in. They allowed us to pick the team for the Test series. I told them that I was going to pick characters. Not to worry about names. That stood us in good stead. The way the guys fought was amazing. That was working well,” noted Pothas.

“But I wasn’t asked one question when the ODI team was picked. It shows what can be done when everyone is pulling in the same direction. Dimuth (Karunaratne) and Chandi (Dinesh Chandimal) put the numbers on the board and Dimuth, in particular, had done a lot of research. It was obvious that in those conditions Yasir Shah was going to make an impact. Our plan was to get him to bowl a lot of overs. Let him bowl for longer periods and cash in when fatigue sets in. “Kaushal (Silva) batted for crucial time and took the pressure off the middle order. It was vital to see off the new ball against a very good pace attack. Dickwella got in when the going was tough and he fought hard and then when we had the edge, he turned the screws. Those were the unsung heroes of our campaign. Our pace attack did a brilliant job. Then there is Rangana (Herath) who is a genius. Dilruwan (Perera bowled superbly. He had a tough series against India and then bounced back having fixes a few things,” said Pothas.

The Test success against Pakistan came close on the heels of Sri Lanka’s home series whitewash at the hands of India, across the three international formats. Before that, they had also lost the ODI series to Zimbabwe and had just about managed to prevent them from securing a victory in the one-off Test by pulling off a record chase. While the Test series win came as a high point for Pothas, the losses overshadowed the victories - with the ODI series clean-sweep by Pakistan and India’s victories in all three formats at home adding to that tally.