Batsmen of my ilk are on the brink: Atapattu

The Sri Lankan star batsman rues that the aggressive marketing of the game has pushed orthodox batsmanship close to extinction.

Sri Lanka's star batsman Marvan Atapattu rues that the aggressive marketing of the game has pushed orthodox batsmanship close to extinction.

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"It is more coming to a stage where time is constantly shrinking, where there is no time for players like me," Atapattu said.

"In a team, you can't have 11 Jayasuriyas or 11 Sangakkaras. You have to have variety in batting."

"When you have batsmen of different calibre, it helps you to counter everything the opposition comes up with. It will make the opponent think twice."

Atapattu is returning to the squad after an eight-month lay-off following a sciatic nerve surgery.

The 35-year-old batsman said it was a career-threatening surgery but he chose to go ahead with it because he felt he had served Sri Lankan cricket to the best of his potential.

"They did the micro-disc hectomy. It is related to the sciatic nerves. They shaved the disc portion which was touching the nerves and giving me pain in the legs." More