Three-man pace attack for inaugural Afghanistan Test today

Rival captains Dhananjaya de Silva and Hashmatullah Shahidi pose with the inaugural Test match trophy in front of Independence Square

• Sri Lanka’s cricket renaissance continues with new Test captain

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka’s cricket renaissance following the aftermath of the Cricket World Cup continues with the commencement of the inaugural Test match against Afghanistan at the SSC grounds today under a new Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva.

They have already had some success with new captains in the ODI and T20I formats against Zimbabwe, Kusal Mendis leading them to win the ODI series 2-0 and Wanindu Hasaranga the T20I series 2-1.

Today comes the turn of De Silva who has succeeded Dimuth Karunaratne to the helm to commence his reign with a win in this one-off Test. He is fortunate to have three former captains playing under him – Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal.

“They supported me a lot when I was not the captain and I expect to get the same support from them in the future,” said De Silva at his inaugural press conference as captain yesterday.

“As captain I want to see Sri Lanka improve their Test rankings. We are currently number 8 and the West Indies have come up above us. I am looking forward to bringing up the rankings step by step. I always like a good fielding side. Fielding is a must and those who excel in that department will have a chance of playing. In Test cricket, you need to have an aggressive mindset all the time whether batting or bowling. You have to take 20 wickets to win a Test match. Those are my expectations.”

Sri Lanka has decided to opt for pace than spin and go with three fast bowlers on the SSC surface which has some grass and is expected to help the quicks on the first day. Therefore, there is a likelihood of either Milan Ratnayake or Chamika Gunasekara receiving their first Test caps and forming a pace combination with Asitha Fernando and Vishwa Fernando. Left-armer Prabath Jayasuriya on his home ground will be the sole spinner and we could see some off-spin from De Silva. The batting order remains unchanged from the last Test against Pakistan played at this venue nearly seven months ago with Karunaratne and Nishan Madushka opening followed by Kusal Mendis, Mathews, Chandimal, De Silva and Sadeera Samarawickrama.

Sri Lanka with a total of 313 Test matches under their belt take on minnows Afghanistan who have played just seven Tests in seven years since being granted Test status in 2017. Although they have not made many heads turn in the longer format Afghanistan has certainly made their mark in white ball cricket. It is an experience which they intend to translate into Test cricket.

“As a team we are absolutely ready, all the boys are confident. It is the first time we are playing Test cricket here with Sri Lanka. It will be a good learning curve and good fun. We are ready for it and we will try our best,” said Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi.

“We are mentally strong as a nation, and we show our talent everywhere we go and what we can achieve. We showed everyone at the recent World Cup what we are capable of. In the dressing room, everyone is thinking about how to win in Sri Lanka. As a cricket nation you all know that we are fighters, and we accept every kind of challenge.”

“Sri Lanka is more experienced than us. They have a lot of players who have played Test cricket for the past 10 years, we have played only 7 Tests. But I will not say that we are not good enough, we are brave, and we will try our best. It’s a challenge for us. We are ready for every kind of challenge. Tomorrow we will start positively, and our mindset will be positive, and we are here to win.” What Afghanistan can take to the Test match is their seven-wicket thrashing of Sri Lanka at Pune in the World Cup which helped push Sri Lanka out of contention for the 2025 Champions Trophy, for which Afghanistan has qualified.

In their limited exposure to Test cricket Afghanistan has not done all that badly having won three of the seven Tests. They have wins against Ireland, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Afghanistan will certainly miss their match-winning spinner Rashid Khan who has undergone back surgery and is recuperating.

“Rashid is the main bowler of our team in all three formats. As the captain I will miss him because he is the match winner for me,” said Shahidi.

Afghanistan has three more spinners in their line up to replace Rashid namely Zia-ur Rehman, Zahir Khan and Qais Ahmed, who played for Colombo Kings in the LPL.