Sri Lanka’s decision to rope in leg-spinner Seekuge Prasanna as replacement for injured opening batsman Dimuth Karunaratne for the remaining games in the ICC Cricket World Cup corrects the imbalance caused by their earlier choice of naming Upul Tharanga as the replacement for leg-spin bowling allrounder Jeevan Mendis.
With the top-order batsmen firing away in the last two games and with Mahela Jayawardene having scored a crucial hundred against Afghanistan, the Chairman of Selectors Sanath Jayasuriya bolstered the bowling resources by picking a wrist spinner. Sri Lanka will play their quarterfinal and, if they win that, perhaps the semifinal too at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
That Sri Lanka are holding on to left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, hoping that he would have recovered from the index finger injury that needed four stitches, is an indication of the line of thinking within the camp. Clearly, Sri Lanka are taking a punt on their slow bowlers, especially with Nuwan Kulasekara unlikely to figure in the scheme of things in matches in Australia.
With pace bowling spearhead Lasith Malinga slowly finding his feet — on his return from ankle surgery and wickets, Sri Lanka have banked on the swing bowling of Suranga Lakmal and skipper Angelo Matthews besides Herath’s left-arm spin and Thisara Perera’s fast-medium bowling. Tillekeratne Dilshan’s off-spin has also come in handy.
But with Herath sidelined for at least the last two league games against Australia here on Sunday and Scotland in Hobart on March 11, Sri Lanka needed a frontline spinner with some experience. The Sri Lankans have ‘mystery spinner’ Sachitra Senanayake in their ranks but he has not been given a World Cup debut yet in the wake of a poor run in New Zealand.
Prasanna, who was flown in as a cover for Herath, could get to play the lead spinner’s role ahead of Senanayake in the crucial game against Australia. He is said to have lost his place in the original squad because Jeevan Mendis’ batting skills weighed in his favour but Mendis has returned home with a hamstring injury.
Though Mahela Jayawardene, fronting for the team on Friday, said that Sri Lanka were aware that they would have to beat the best side in the competition to win the World Cup and hence were not wary of any opposition in their quarter-finals in Sydney, Sri Lanka are hoping to beat Australia to the second spot in Group A behind New Zealand.
