“It was like a piece of rubber snapping inside my thigh” – Dinesh Chandimal
A disappointed Dinesh Chandimal returned to Sri Lanka after his little cameo that nearly brought Sri Lanka an unexpected win and the rest of the World Cup for him. In fact he nearly missed his Singapore connection from Hobart after the flight that was due to leave at 9.45 a.m. took to the air only at 1.50 p.m.
Dinesh Chandimal in action. After his injury he plans to rest. It will take some time to heal and recover.
Chandimal said “Angi (Angelo Mathews) and I were going well and we were keeping to the plan. But, suddenly when I went for that sharp second, I felt as if a rubber snapped inside my right thigh, but at that time what I wanted was to bat on. I tried to continue but the pain was too much and I could not bear it up so reluctantly I made the decision to walk off.
“I know if that did not happen, we may have even pulled it off and we were well ahead of the asking rate. If I did not get hurt, even Angi would not have got out in that manner I felt that we were in complete control. “Now it is matter of rest and heal, they say the tear is about three centimeters and it will take some time”.
After the senior three – T.M. Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena heroically laid the foundation to take up a challenge of chasing an almost impossible target of 377, the Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal took the game almost to the wire.
The duo put on an 80 run stand for the 5th wicket. Chandimal’s contribution was an unbeaten chanceless 52 made in just 24 balls with eight fours and a six at a strike rate of 216.66.