Sri Lanka revert to spin for second Test

Sri Lanka Captain Dimuth Karunaratne (second from right) enjoys a light moment with team mates during practice at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium yesterday. From left: Asitha Fernando, Ramesh Mendis, Suranga Lakmal and Lahiru Thirimanne.

 Bangladesh players have a pep talk ahead of practice. 

• Uncapped Praveen Jayawickrama in line for Test cap

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Having failed in their effort to beat Bangladesh through seam for the first Test, Sri Lanka are now reverting back to their one-time main strength – spin – to do the job for them in the second Test commencing at the Pallekele International

Praveen Jayawickrama bowling during a practice session.

Cricket Stadium today.

It was no fault of the seamers that Sri Lanka could not force a winning result in the first Test that ended in a high-scoring draw, but it was the wicket that let them down by its greenness, eventually turning out to be a paradise for batsmen.

“We are looking forward to a fifty-fifty wicket where there is something in it for the bowlers as well,” said Sri Lanka Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne in a virtual media conference yesterday. 

“If you take this wicket, it becomes slow gradually and some balls kept low. I don’t think there will much for the fast bowlers on this wicket other than for the spinners, so we hope to go with two fast bowlers and three spinners to balance the team.”

“We didn’t get much help from the wicket in the first Test for the bowlers to take 20 wickets and win a Test. With this kind of hot weather, it is difficult to prepare a wicket for the seamers because it dries fast and can get flat,” he said. 

“As our batsmen are in good nick, on a fifty-fifty wicket we are looking to win through our spinners. As our fastest bowler Lahiru Kumara is injured, we are hoping to bring a spinner in his place.”

The spot is most likely to be given to uncapped left-arm orthodox spinner Praveen Jayawickrama, who, according to Karunaratne, stands a better chance of being included in the final 11 ahead of left-arm wrist spinner Lakshan Sandakan.

“Praveen has a good chance of playing tomorrow (Thursday) because we want to go along with spin. We have not selected our final 11 but he is in the 13. I think he will get an opportunity to play. Praveen has a better chance of playing than Sandakan,” said Karunaratne.

Jayawickrama (22) has very little first-class experience but has shown a lot of promise in the 10 first-class matches he has played so far, capturing 40 wickets at an average of 24.57 with three five-fer hauls.

Although the Sri Lankan plan seems to be to go with a three-pronged spin attack using Dhananajaya de Silva as the third spinner, none of the spinners named in the squad have proven their worth as match-winners yet.

“After Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera we have this current crop of spinners. As captain, these are the resources I have to work with and somehow try and manage to win a Test match,” Karunaratne said optimistically. 

“We can’t expect too much from a spinner who has played only a handful of matches to perform like a Rangana Herath or a Dilruwan Perera. It will take some time for them to reach that level. So, we have to manage with what we have for the moment and I am hoping they will perform well.”

While Herath has retired from the game, Perera at 38 has a few fitness issues, and Lasith Embuldeniya is injured. What Sri Lanka has to manage with is Wanindu Hasaranga, Ramesh Mendis, Jayawickrama, Sandakan and de Silva, who between them have captured in total 66 wickets from 51 Tests – not encouraging figures.  

One of the batsmen in the Bangladesh side which Sri Lanka will be keen to dismiss early is their experienced opener Tamim Iqbal, who in the first Test batted with fluency and rapidity which the Lankan bowlers failed to restrain in both innings. Tamim scored 90 off 101 balls and 74* off 98 balls, giving confidence to the Bangladesh middle order to prosper.

“Tamim is their anchorman and he tries to unsettle the bowlers by scoring fast. If we can try and block his scoring areas the chances of him making mistakes will be great. In the first Test, we tried to attack him and he counter attacked which ended us leaking a lot of runs. We are hoping to block his big shots and get him playing more in the defensive mode, then we have a better chance of dismissing him,” said Karunaratne. 

“In any of the past series, he has not been comfortable playing against off-spinners and in the first 4-5 overs (Suranga) Lakmal has a good opportunity of taking his wicket. The way he plays there is a good chance of him getting an lbw. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try to get him into the defensive mode and get his wicket.”  

Bangladesh stick to 5 specialist bowlers

In the meantime, Bangladesh are sticking to their plans of playing five specialist bowlers for the second Test as well, in the hope of producing a winning result.

Though the ploy hardly paid off in the opening Test, considering there was nothing for the bowlers in a wicket that produced 1,289 runs in a high-scoring draw, Bangladesh Skipper Mominul Haque is convinced that it is the best way to go in the longer format.

“It (playing five bowlers) is something we need to do, as all the big teams in the cricketing nations do it. If you want to pick 20 wickets you need five bowlers and we need these kinds of approach and attack if we want to take our cricket to the next level,” Mominul said.

“I don’t think the wicket will behave too differently from the opening Test. Though there is grass in the wicket now, it will be trimmed before the start of the Test,” he said.

Bangladesh has decided to keep an unchanged 15-member squad for the second Test.

“In fact, we have shortened the squad to 13 but the playing XI will be decided after seeing the wicket tomorrow (today),” Mominul added.