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Galle a happy hunting ground for Sri Lanka |
It will be a new and a different kind of a challenge come August 18 when the Lanka take on the Kiwis at Galle. True the Kiwis may not pose the same type of threat as Pakistan but they are formidable in their own right. I think the biggest and the greatest obstacle the Kiwis would encounter in Sri Lanka is their batting.
Having a rather inexperienced side, with very little depth to challenge quality spinners of the caliber of Muralitheran, Mendis and Herath. This would have definitely prompted them to hire the former Pakistan off spinner Saqlain Mustaq for two weeks to work with them and to fly in the youngster from Kent who is a Murali clone. It only speaks of what they seem to be anticipating the extent of the difficult road ahead for them.
In any case the sub continent has been a frontier many teams from out side have failed to conquer. Australia is a prime example not been able to come up with anything noteworthy in India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka. True the last visit by Australia to this country was a success. But that was by a very thin margin with the possibility of the games going either way. The Kiwi record so far in Sri Lanka hasn’t been impressive at all. In the last 16 years, New Zealand hasn’t won a series in Sri Lanka, with the last series been drawn with the two captains - Hashan Tilakaratne and Stephen Fleming - being contributors with big runs.
So the Kiwis will commence yet another two test series in that back drop in Galle which is one of the happy hunting grounds for the home team.
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| Angelo Mathews (left), one of the promising players for Sri Lanka, celebrates after taking a Pakistani wicket during the Sri Lanka-PakistanTest series. |
Ok if that’s the scenario with the Kiwis what does the Lankans have in store for them? After their great series wins over Pakistan and with a full strength squad at his disposal Kumara Sangakkara must be brimming with confidence. Having said that, the Lankan skipper will pay plenty of attention to the rather poor batting display by the Lankans in the last two ODI’s as well as the T 20 match. Whilst in the two ODI’s the Lankans had tough conditions to contend with, there is no excuse for the batting failure in the T 20 as the playing field was level and almost equal to both teams. Though the bowlers continued to do their part manfully Skipper Sangakkara would have been disappointed with the way the batsmen conducted themselves. The fact that Dilshan was out of the entire series was a huge blow and unfortunately we didn’t have anybody rising to the occasion at the top on a consistent basis.
However with the series over, the Sri Lankans should forget these games and move forward towards the test match with confidence. Getting back to the squad, it has a very interesting composition. Firstly and thankfully it is good to have the return of Prassanna Jayawardane to the squad as he will provide the much needed stability behind the stumps. It will also permit Sri Lanka to utilize Dilshan more meaningfully as a batsman and fielder and also not expose him to unexpected injuries. But the question is with Dilshan back and Jayawardane available as the stumper what would be the final XI? What would be going through the mind of the selectors with regards to the team and the bowling line up in particular? Firstly it is obvious that Sri Lanka will be looking at only two pace bowlers and one of them will definitely be Mathews. In that scenario if Prassanna Jayawardane is to bat at no.8 behind Mathews, then Sri Lanka will have only 3 other places to fill. One of them is bound to be the other seamer and the other being Muralitheran. In that case who will be the 2nd spinner? Mendis or Herath? I am sure both bowlers will have strong support. Mendis for his mystery and the fact that the Kiwis have never played him a test match is a strong point in his favour whilst Herath’s performance against Pakistan leading the spin attack in the absence of Muralitheran was commendable. His single handed bowling was a factor in Sri Lanka winning the first test and one wouldn’t be surprised if he makes a strong case to be included. On the other hand will the selectors want to play all three spinners, with Dilshan back as the keeper? Or play the three spinners with Dilshan as an opener and dispensing one of the regular openers with Prassanna Jayawardane keeping wickets.
Definitely there are lots of possibilities and options for the skipper which is good! It is good to have positive and favourable headaches than the negative and the problematic ones. In this case it’s a positive problem for Sangakkara having to choose from a good squad of players. With Galle known to be a ground with a very positive history and track record for the hosts and also with the pitch bound to be assisting spin, my gut feeling is that Sri Lanka may be tempted to open with Dilshan and play the three spinners. Whatever they do and whichever combination they may pick it is important that Sangakkara and Sri Lanka start off on a winning note. With Vettori admitting that winning in Sri Lanka is a very tough task I am sure the Lankans would want to keep to Vettori’s predictions when the games begin.
* Roshan Abeysinghe is a leading cricket promoter and an international cricket commentator |
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