Karthik’s performance a matter of concern, admits Kumble

Indian Skipper Anil Kumble hinted on Wednesday that the visitors might retain the line-up that lost the opening Test against Sri Lanka for the second match of the series starting on Thursday.

“There will be more or less the same combination of the Indian team for tomorrow’s match,” Kumble told reporters. The Indians are trailing the three-Test series 0-1 after losing the opening match inside four days in Colombo, collapsing against the spin duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis.

Kumble, although describing the loss as a collective debacle, admitted that Dinesh Karthik’s failure was the most worrying aspect of the loss.

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“Karthik’s performance was a matter of concern, but we are not pin-pointing the performance of any one person. The Indian team as a whole failed to perform well in the last Test.

However, the veteran spinner said the team was confident of bouncing back in the second Test. “We will try to come up with a better performance,” he said.