During the last World Test Championship, Sri Lanka never had momentum behind them. Ideally, if qualifying for the final was out of the equation, the team should have targeted a top four finish.
The pandemic, injuries and poor form disrupted things for Sri Lanka. This time around though, they have a good opportunity to have a shot at finishing near the top of the table. Provided the weather stays good, given their recent form in Test cricket, they should collect the maximum 24 points on offer for winning both Tests against the West Indies.
West Indies have already got 12 points, having beaten Pakistan in Jamaica. India with 26 points lead the table followed by Pakistan and then West Indies. Sri Lanka and many others are yet to open their accounts.
Several young players have done well this year in Test match cricket, like Pathum Nissanka who became the first Sri Lankan to score a hundred on debut overseas and Praveen Jayawickrama who finished with career best figures for a debutant.
While Nissanka will play for certain, it will be interesting to see what the selectors will do with Praveen. He had fitted in for the injured Lasith Embuldeniya in the home series against Bangladesh in May and now that Embuldeniya has returned, whether they stick with the Australian system where when an injured player returns, he gets his place back automatically, we will have to wait and see. It’s a system that Trevor Bayliss tried here during his four year tenure. But leaving out Praveen is a massive call but it is unlikely that both left-arm spinners will feature in the opening Test.
Given his tremendous success in the T20 World Cup in UAE a fortnight ago, Charith Asalanka should be drafted into the Test side. Former skipper Kumar Sangakkara in an interview with ThePapare anointed the fellow left-hander as his successor at number three. However, in another interview with ThePapare, former captain Marvan Atapattu cautioned that success in one format does not guarantee success in another format. He in fact found fault with the system when in desperation selectors pick players mixing up formats eventually ruining players’ careers.
Asalanka, however, seems to have a good head above his shoulders and debuting at a venue which he knows like the back of his hand against a seemingly weak opposition does not look like a bad idea. At the end of this series, we will find out which Sri Lankan captain is right. Is it the conservative Atapattu or the aggressive Sangakkara. Both legends of our beautiful game, as leaders they set the benchmarks.
It’s not a sensible idea to call any team ‘weak’ in this game of great uncertainties. West Indies beat a strong Pakistan side in August while winning a series against Bangladesh away from home in February. Their squad remains almost the same and they have improved the way they play spin. They have not won a Test match in Sri Lanka although they have been touring here since 1993. In 11 Tests in Sri Lanka, the hosts have won seven with four Tests being drawn. They still lost 3-0 when Brian Lara batted like a maniac and piled up 688 runs in the 2001 series.
Back in the West Indies, not many people are giving their team a chance due to a few reasons. They think that Sri Lanka are a formidable opposition with spin being their main weapon and that in Galle they are unbeatable. The truth, however, is far from that.
England played outstandingly well in January this year and broke the myth that Sri Lanka is unbeatable in Galle by winning both Tests. Somerset duo of Jack Leach and Dom Bess had a superb outing and Sri Lanka’s batsmen cracked under pressure.
Given the way some of the experienced campaigners got out, if you put pressure when the spin is on, there is a good chance that the batsmen will lose the plot and a cross-batted shot is always around the corner.
There was anger and frustration after the England defeats. It seemed that people were entertaining the idea of moving forward with the aggressive youth policy and keeping the seniors at bay when it comes to Test match cricket as well. Interesting ploy and that may have worked against West Indies. However, don’t forget the team’s next Test series is against India. Test match cricket in places like Bangalore and Mohali is not for the faint hearted and you need to have experience.
Sri Lanka had an excellent tour of India four years ago where they could have in fact won the Delhi Test match despite losing Rangana Herath for the game. The bigger picture when it comes to Test match cricket should be beating India in a Test match, something that Sri Lanka have never done. There have been a couple of close encounters, the closest being Madras 1982, but not close enough.
*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ThePapare.com.
