Sri Lanka sweat on Suranga Lakmal’s hamstring injury

Sri Lanka Captain Dimuth Karunaratne

Sri Lanka’s leading fast-bowler Suranga Lakmal fighting to be fit for the first Test

• The side that bats well will win the series says skipper Dimuth

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka Captain Dimuth Karunaratne was of the view that the team that bats well will hold the key to winning the two-Test series against South Africa which begins at the Centurion on Boxing Day.

“Considering the conditions we are going to play under we will need a lot of fast-bowlers on bowler-friendly wickets. The last time we didn’t have that option but on this occasion, we have the strength with the inclusion of (Lahiru) Kumara and Dushmantha (Chameera). It is good to have a combination to match South Africa’s so that they would not have an edge on us on fast pitches. As it is the chances are 50-50. So I think it will be largely a batsmen’s game, the side that bats well will win the series,” said Karunaratne in a virtual media conference yesterday.

Sri Lanka, however, will sweat on the fitness of their most experienced fast-bowler Suranga Lakmal, who is struggling to be fit after pulling a hamstring injury on Wednesday during practice.

“One concern is that there is a slight hamstring injury to Suranga Lakmal we are not sure whether he will play. The rest of the fast-bowlers are all fit. We will pick our final squad tomorrow (today) and to a large extent it will be Lahiru, Suranga (if fit) and Vishwa (Fernando) plus a fast-bowling all-rounder. We gave Suranga the day off today (yesterday),” said Karunaratne who will have a new opening partner for the first Test.

In the absence of Oshada Fernando (ankle injury), Karunaratne said that Kusal Perera will open with him. “Kusal has the experience of opening in white-ball cricket and he has also been my partner in that format. As for Angelo’s (Mathews) absence, we have to decide whether to play a specialist batsman or to go with two all-rounders. There is a chance of Wanindu (Hasaranga) or (Dasun) Shanaka playing,” he said.

Karunaratne said that they have picked a squad of 13 players from which the final 11 will be selected and that includes two spinners Lasith Embuldeniya (left-arm) and Hasaranga (right-arm leg-spin). There is also the off-spin of Dhananjaya de Silva so that Sri Lanka has virtually all bases covered.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in March this is the first international series Sri Lanka are going to be involved in and Karunaratne talking about the experience said: “Playing Test cricket after such a long time everyone will have some nervous feelings. We are putting more than 200% effort to adjust to the conditions and to give a good account of ourselves in the first Test. The bio-bubble affects us both ways. One way it keeps the players together to jell as a team. Most of the time we are in the team room because it is boring staying in our individual rooms. The other is that the players feel that they don’t have the freedom to move around freely and eat what they want, but we have to move with the times because of COVID.”

On their last tour to South Africa in February 2019, Sri Lanka created history by becoming the first Asian country to win a Test series there. They beat South Africa 2-0. Karunaratne is confident that he has the resources at his disposal to replicate that win.

“As a team, we expect to win. The last occasion our success was based on the younger players giving 100% because some of the seniors were not there. We didn’t put too much pressure on ourselves but we played as a team. I expect the players to perform similarly on this occasion also,” said Karunaratne.

“We must try to win session by session and if we do that we can win the series. The most important part is how we bat, our success lies in the hands of our batsmen. The bowlers will have equal opportunities on these wickets so it is how we bat that will decide the series. I have not played Test cricket since January so I will be under extra pressure than the rest. But I am not worrying too much about that. I am prepared to take on the challenge,” he said.

Karunaratne also emphasised the need to balance the side with youngsters.

“If you take the last series Angelo and Chandi (Dinesh Chandimal) was not there. I went with a young side. When you play in these conditions you always need a combination of juniors and seniors. We need to groom youngsters as well that’s why we always pick a balanced side. We need to groom youngsters because a lot of the players are now in their mid-thirties.”

The Lankan captain said that they were quite aware that South Africa are coming into the series having played four-day cricket and a T20I series against England.

“There are not many changes in the South African line-up from the one that played us the last time. They have an advantage of playing under their own conditions and they have the experience of playing four-day cricket and T20 international cricket. We have analysed them closely. Having Mickey Arthur as our coach is a big advantage to us because being a South African he knows all the conditions here,” said Karunaratne.