Bengaluru: Head coach Chris Silverwood on Thursday pinned Sri Lanka's horror run in the World Cup to its inconsistencies, particularly in batting, after the Islanders bowed out of the quadrennial mega event with a five-wicket defeat against New Zealand here.
In a lopsided contest, Sri Lanka succumbed to their seventh loss in nine league stage matches and slipped to the ninth spot in the points table. The top eight teams will get direct qualification for the Champions Trophy in 2025.
Sri Lanka were shot out for a mere 171 by the Kiwis, who won by five wickets and more than 26 overs to spare. I think inconsistency (the cause of SL's lean run). It would be fair to use that word. We'll look back on certain games and rue missed opportunities. There have been games that if we'd have taken the opportunities, this could have looked a lot different," he said.
But the fact is that we have been inconsistent and it's something that we've been working on for a long time and something we need to continue working on, said Silverwood in his post-match press meet. Silverwood further dissected the defeat and said the Lankan batsmen needed to be more consistent.