It is not a typical Galle wicket it’s more in favour of the batsmen – Tharindu

Wednesday, 18 June 2025 00:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Debutant Tharindu Rathnayake celebrates his first wicket in Test cricket

Test debutant Tharindu Rathnayake who was Sri Lanka’s most successful bowler on a Bangladesh dominated first day of the first Test with two wickets, is of the view that the Galle wicket will favour the batsmen at least until the fourth day.

“It has rained in the past two days and there is moisture on the ground so there is a tendency for the ball to get older so I don’t think there is going to be a big difference in the wicket till the final session of the fourth day,” said Rathnayake at the end of the first day when Bangladesh after winning the toss finished on 292-3.

“The wicket is hard but slow. In the morning there was some moisture and the ball started to turn but after lunch the wicket became flat and slow and the ball became old because there was moisture on the outfield.”

“Bangladesh batted well on the wicket which was on the slow side. It is not a typical Galle wicket, it is more in favour of the batsmen. Our first task is to get them out as quickly as possible, but it won’t be easy.”

Mushfiqur Rahim who scored a century after going through 13 Test innings without a fifty had a different opinion of the Galle track.

“If you see the records in Galle as the day progresses you have to put a big total in the first innings especially. What I feel in Galle is that you have to take as big a first innings lead as you can. Our main focus now is to bat as long as we can.”

“Especially in Galle day one is a nice wicket to bat after winning the toss. We knew when the ball gets a bit older it will be nice to bat on. We needed a good start but that didn’t happen. That’s the duty for the middle-order, they have to take the responsibility. (Najmul) Shanto batted extremely well. The way he batted, the control he showed, it is very good going forward.”

Mushfiqur who has scored the most runs in Tests in his career against Sri Lanka said, “I play what is in front of me and I respect all the opposition. I have a good record against them. That doesn’t mean that every time I go to bat, I will score easy runs. When I was 99, I took a lot of balls. Sri Lanka didn’t give me any freebies that showed they are a very tough side to score runs against. They are very smart with their bowling changes and fitness. What I felt is that when I am in control, I trust my process and bat for long.”

Mushfiqur who has a good record in Galle said, “I saw when Sri Lanka play with other teams, they make the wicket a rank turner with a lot of purchase for the spinners and it’s a different ball game. But against us I always felt we got a very good wicket especially the first two days. We know we have 7 batsmen so if someone gets set you need to capitalize on that. I keep telling Shanto that we need to bat the whole day, doesn’t matter what the score is but we need to bat long.” – [ST]

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