Tough ask beating India in India, but skipper Dimuth optimistic

Former Indian captain Virat Kohli will play his 100th Test match today 

• Mohali Test will be Sri Lanka’s 300th and Kohli’s 100th

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

India is one of the few countries that Sri Lanka has never won a Test match in, but skipper Dimuth Karunaratne is

Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne during yesterday’s virtual media  conference

optimistic that his team can turn things around on this occasion when Sri Lanka takes on India in a two-Test series starting at Mohali today.

“More than in the past we have a lot of confidence, I can see it in the players before they came to India because we have done well in the past year. There are senior and juniors players who have performed well. The combination is good and with that feeling I am confident we can do well like we did in South Africa,” said Karunaratne in a virtual media conference yesterday.

“We were the underdogs then and had nothing to lose and we won. Here, we have not won a Test in India so we have less pressure. India knows they have to win against us. What we have to do is to turn the pressure which is on them to our advantage and see how we can win. It is not easy to beat India in India, we have trained and planned a lot on how we can win a match.”

Karunaratne said Sri Lanka’s ultimate goal was to try and win the ICC Test Championships and the two Tests against India are part of it and carries points for wins and draws.

“Personally, everyone has goals but as a team our goal is to try and win the Test Championships. Even though we are leading at the moment we have a lot of matches ahead of us. We must try to see how we can win these matches and try to remain on top and qualify for the final. That is our ultimate goal. 

Instead of looking at the big picture we are taking it series by series. An away series is the most difficult, we have two series away. India and Bangladesh are the two most important away series for us. If we can finish well we can remain on top of the points table,” Karunaratne said.

With the Mohali wicket more suited for pace, Karunaratne said that he was looking to go with three fast bowlers and one frontline spinner using Dhananjaya de Silva as the second spinner with his off-breaks.   

“When you look at the wicket it keeps on changing from day to day. There are layers of grass in the good areas. After we have our final practice session in the afternoon only we can finalise our playing 11. India will also go with three fast bowlers but the advantage they have is that they also have two good spin bowling all-rounders. With Ramesh Mendis unavailable (injured) we have as our genuine spinners two left-armers one of them will play. We are hoping to make up for the other spinner with Dhananjaya or Charith (Asalanka),” said Karunaratne.

Sri Lanka however will not have Dushmantha Chameera in their line-up for today. “Dushmantha has been playing a lot of T20I cricket and we are planning to rest him for this Test and play him in the pink ball second Test.”

The Test match will be Sri Lanka’s 300th in their 40-year history as a Test nation, and Karunaratne said that he would do his best to get the best result for his country.

“It’s a great feeling for me to be captaining my country in its 300th Test match. That is something which I did not expect before I started playing. I have played only three Tests in India before and I have not been able to produce a good performance. Personally, I am trying to make this tour a successful one for me. I want to make a good start and play like I did last year. To win a Test match for the country is my biggest ambition.”

Karunaratne finished 2021 as the third highest run-getter behind England’s Joe Root and India’s Rohit Sharma with 902 runs (avg. 69.38) with four hundreds from seven Tests.  

With the return of Lahiru Thirimanne to the side (he missed the last series against West Indies due to the birth of his second child), Karunaratne will open the batting with Pathum Nissanka at number three. Kusal Mendis is still not 100% recovered and will be considered only for the second Test. Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal and wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella will probably make up the rest of the batting.

The series will be the last for veteran fast bowler Suranga Lakmal who will retire from international cricket to concentrate on a career with English county Derbyshire.

“I know what a big loss it will be not to have Suranga after this series. To make up for the loss we have to rely on Dushmantha Chameera, Vishwa Fernando and Lahiru Kumara to fill his shoes,” said Karunaratne. “Personally, I am happy for Suranga who has got a contract to play county cricket. It is not easy to get one. Most of the time he has played on subcontinent pitches which are not helpful for seam bowling. His decision to play county cricket in England will help him immensely. It’s a big loss for Sri Lanka cricket that he is retiring after this series. We want to give him a memorable farewell.”

Today’s Test will be former Indian captain Virat Kohli’s 100th. He will be joining a select band of 11 other Indians who have done so before him.