Sri Lanka to play five bowlers against India; Kohli frets over opening dilemma
Sri Lanka will play five bowlers against India and experienced campaigner Angelo Mathews will bat at No.4, skipper Dinesh Chandimal said on Wednesday ahead of the irst cricket Test in Kolkata.
“That’s the combination we are looking at. You need wickets to win against a good team like India and we need to take 20 wickets. We haven’t decided yet... we need to see the pitch first. We will decide tomorrow morning who is going to play,” Chandimal told reporters on the eve of their first Test against India at the Eden Gardens.
Sri Lanka played five bowlers against Pakistan in the first Test of the recently-concluded series with the likes of off-spinner Dilruwan Perera, veteran left-arm tweaker Rangan Herath and chinaman Lakshan Sandakan rolling their arms along with pacers’ duo of Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep.
In the second Test, Lahiru Gamage played in place of Sandakan.
With it is unlikely that they will play three spinners on Thursday with the Eden wicket having a fair sprinkling of grass on it, Pradeep will be missed as he is not travelling with the team.
“He is injury-prone and has been suffering injuries quite often in the last one year. After playing one match, he is not being able to play the next three-four matches. We are observing his progress and it is good that he has been given a break. It is the selectors’ call at the end of the day,” Chandimal said about Pradeep.
On former captain Mathews, who is making a comeback into the team after missing the Pakistan series in the UAE due to calf injury, Chandimal said: “He is going to bat at No.4. He has got the experience and that is what we are looking at. We think if we send him top of the order we can get the maximum out of him.”
Mathews generally bats a rung lower down the order. Kusal Mendis — who is also not playing the series — usually bats at No.4. “If he is bowling, it gives us more confidence. But, unfortunately, with his injury he can’t bowl in Test cricket. But looking at his experience, he was unbelievable in 201314 so he will put his hand up and do his best in this series. As a batting unit, it gives us confidence when he is around,” Chandimal said about Mathews not being able to bowl in the longest format.
Asked how difficult will it be for his side to recover after losing 0-9 to India at home across all formats, Chandimal said: “We all know India is No.1 at the moment. In Tests, they played some really good cricket in last two years. It was a tough series against them in Sri Lanka.
“As a team, we have learnt a lot and we just need to get the positives out of the last series. As a unit we are much than the last series after winning against Pakistan. We have really good confidence. The guys are in good shape and we are looking forward to the series.”
KOHLI IN A QUANDARY
India captain Virat Kohli admitted to being in a familiar dilemma over the team’s opening combination.
The right-handed duo of Murali Vijay and Lokesh Rahul have remained India’s trusted batsmen upfront but the former’s wrist injury opened an unlikely door for Shikhar Dhawan when they toured Sri Lanka earlier this year.
The Delhi left-hander responded by grabbing the opportunity with both hands, smashing two centuries to claim the man-of-the-series award as India completed a 3-0 whitewash in the Test series.
A fit-again Vijay is hoping to reclaim his spot in the Test series but Kohli confirmed the situation is not so straightforward.
“That situation has always been (like this for a while),” Kohli told reporters.
“The balance has swung every now and then, between two guys doing well and one of them missing out. It happened with KL (Rahul) initially, it happened with Shikhar in between.”