Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne (left) and Angelo Mathews (second left) share a light moment with team mates during a practice session at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium yesterday

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka will bank on their pace bowlers to produce a winning a result against Bangladesh when the two-Test series commences at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium today.

Sri Lanka who were one-time kings of spin at home have now resorted to pace bowling as they feel they stand a better chance against a struggling Bangladesh side sans their world class all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman.

“We played our last series well in the West Indies and we are used to fast bowler-friendly conditions. We know that Bangladesh will struggle on pacey wickets and we have a better fast bowling attack than spin. Our main spinner (Lasith Embuldeniya) got injured in the West Indies and I think this is the best time to produce a grassy wicket and play a good fast bowling attack,” said Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne in a pre-Test virtual media conference yesterday.

“We will be playing three fast bowlers because in the past few series we have played on fast bowler-friendly conditions. Bangladesh has a good spin attack but we don’t have one with Embuldeniya and Dilruwan Perera missing from our line-up. We have a good pace attack with Lahiru Kumara, Suranga Lakmal, Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando so we’ve decided to back our fast bowlers and provide a green top.”

Talking of the positives Sri Lanka can carry from their last series in the West Indies, Karunaratne said. “We’ve done really well, the batters did a good job and if you take the fast bowlers, Suranga did absolutely well, Vishwa and Dushmantha (Chameera) they played a good supporting role. Overall, the result is not what I expected but the players did a great job in the West Indies.”

Sri Lanka drew both Tests against the West Indies and will be looking for their first win in seven Tests since beating Zimbabwe in January last year.

The fact that Sri Lanka has won only one of their seven Tests played at Pallekele does not worry Karunaratne so much, though it largely depends on how the team performs.

“Pallekele is the venue where we can get a pace-friendly wicket, that’s why we chose it as the venue for the two Tests. We don’t worry too much about past results. At Galle also we had a good record but we lost to England, the result will depend on how we perform.”

Despite the over-reliance on pace Karunaratne said that there is also a place for a front-line spinner in his side.

“There will be a place for a spinner in the team because with this heat the wicket is going to dry after the third day and there can be something for the spinners on days four and five. Definitely we are going to play a main spinner and it’s a big loss not having Embuldeniya, but Wanindu Hasaranga and Ramesh Mendis are capable of doing that job. The one who plays in the Test I expect will go do a great job for me,” said Karunaratne.

With the off-spin of Dhananjaya de Silva available, it is most likely that Sri Lanka will opt for the leg-spin of Hasaranga instead of another off-spinner in Mendis.

The return of experienced Angelo Mathews to the side after missing out on the West Indies series has also given a new headache to the team selectors.

“We’ve announced a 13-man squad but we have not finalised the playing 11 yet. There is a battle between (Dinesh) Chandimal and Angelo because the others have done really well in the past few months. We want to look at the wicket tomorrow morning and decide who is going to play for that position,” said Karunaratne.

Bangladesh switch from spin to pace

Meanwhile, Bangladesh, whose strength is their spin, has changed plans and according to their skipper Mominul Haque will rely more on their pace attack.

“We will field a pacer-dominated bowling attack in this Test,” Mominul said in the pre-series virtual press conference. “I don’t think it will reduce our chance to win the match. We have a reliable pace-bowling attack consisting of experienced and new guys.”

Bangladesh has included left-arm uncapped pacer Shoriful Islam in their 15-member Test squad for the first Test. Shoriful has played a total of eight first-class matches bagging 22 wickets. He represented Bangladesh in three T20Is and scalped two wickets. Yasir Ali is also a part of this squad, who is yet to get his Test cap. He, however, was a part of the main squad during the West Indies series earlier this year at home.

Right-arm pace-bowler Taskin Ahmed is making a comeback to the Test squad after a gap of three years. He played his last Test back in 2017 against South Africa at Potchefstroom.

Commenting on the Bangladesh side, Karunaratne said: “Bangladesh may not have had good results in the past few months but they have good batters like Tamim (Iqbal) and Mushfiqur (Rahim) two experienced players who can at any time change the game and take it away from you.”

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