Lankan captain handicapped by strange selection policies

•  Left with little bowling resources for second Test

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne was left to scrape the barrel to find fast bowlers for the pink ball second cricket Test against India after he was told that Dushmantha Chameera (who was selected in the Sri Lanka Test squad for India) has to be rested on medical advice to keep him fresh for white ball cricket, especially with the T20 World Cup around in October.

Karunaratne, when asked whether Chameera would be replacing injured fast bowler Lahiru Kumara for the second Test, replied: “We are unable to select Chameera because he has been advised by the medical panel to rest. We have been told to manage him to play him mostly in white ball cricket until the T20 World Cup. With Chameera unavailable we have very little bowling resources. We must try and get the maximum from what we have.”

“To win a Test we need to take 20 wickets. Unlike in T20 or limited overs cricket after you bowl 50 overs or 20 overs the match does not end. We need to take 20 wickets to win a Test match. To get those wickets we don’t have bowlers because of injury concerns and the unavailability of bowlers who are asked to be rested for the T20 World Cup,” lamented Karunaratne. 

“It is very difficult when you are competing with a team like India. That is our biggest concern. Even if we put up a big score we need to have bowlers who can take 20 wickets. After Suranga (Lakmal) retires the situation will become even worse with so many Tests lined up for the year.”

The question that begs to be asked is if Chameera was not available for Test selection, why on earth did the selectors send him to India? Was he going there for a joy ride? 

The feedback we get from reliable sources is that if Chameera was left behind in Colombo he would not take his training seriously, so by including him in the tour party he will be part of the national training even if he is not available for selection. This strange policy has left Sri Lanka without a specialist fast bowler to pick for the second Test.

Lahiru Kumara getting injured in the first Test and being ruled out for the rest of the series has left Karunaratne with hardly any choice of fast bowlers to support Suranga Lakmal and Vishwa Fernando. The second Test starting at Bengaluru today is a pink ball day-night game where the ball generally tends to help swing bowling under lights and Sri Lanka could be found a quality fast bowler short. The options left to Karunaratne is all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne whose pace is more suited to white ball cricket than Test.

Karunaratne described the Bengaluru pitch as dry and that may sway him to go with an additional spinner, but then again he is handicapped because the only other spinners available in the squad are left-armed Praveen Jayawickrama and uncapped leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay. 

Sri Lanka already have a left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya as their number one choice, and it is highly unlikely they will go into a Test with two left-arm spinners. Ramesh Mendis, the off-spinner would have been the ideal choice but he is injured and was not selected for the tour. Thus Sri Lanka are relying on the part time off-spin of Dhananjaya de Silva and Charith Asalanka.

“When you look at the wicket the soil is black and it will be different from the one we played the first Test. The track looks dry and they have removed a lot of grass from the surface. Even though it’s a pink ball test I think the wicket will assist spin, so we may have to go with two spinners,” said Karunaratne.

To put India under some sort of pressure Karunaratne said they need to post a total in excess of 300. “We all got starts and we got through the difficult moments but after that we played casually and gave our wickets away. The batsmen were in an attacking mode.  “It is not easy playing on their surface with the spinners bowling so well. We were trying to push the field back by playing some attacking shots and rotate the strike but with 500 plus runs on the board India were able to maintain attacking fields with fielders in catching positions.”

With Pathum Nissanka suffering a back injury, Sri Lanka will either look to Kusal Mendis or Dinesh Chandimal to replace him. Sri Lanka trail 1-0 in the two Test series having lost the first Test by an innings and 222 runs inside three days.