By Sran Obeyesekere
Sri Lanka Captain Dhananjaya de Silva said that one of Sri Lanka’s major concerns going into tomorrow’s second test match against Bangladesh starting at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Grounds tomorrow, would be to plug the loose ends in the bowling department in the wake of too many runs being leaked and not getting wickets as desired in the drawn first test. Accordingly, Sri Lanka might go into the second test with three quicks at the SSC going by past performances where the fast bowlers had been among the wickets against Bangladesh. There was also the problem of the nature of wickets in Sri Lanka not been very conducive to pace bowling. Of course, but it was left to be seen as to how the wicket would behave tomorrow when a final decision would be taken on the set of bowlers.
Dhananjaya made the point that SSC was known to traditionally favour batsmen while waning off by the fourth day in favor of bowlers and Sri Lanka would be looking to the luck of the toss.
“Too many runs were conceded in the first test while wicket taking was as much a concern in the first test and we have been addressing that area going into tomorrow’s second test,” he said.
The Lankan captain also hinted at the captain’s press conference this afternoon that that off-spin all-rounder Dunith Wellalage was very likely to make the eleven.
“Dunith Wellalage has been improving with every match he played both as a batsman and bowler which is a plus factor to having him in te playing eleven tomorrow,” Dhananjaya de Silva added.
As to the batting order following Angelo Mathews retirement, he said that he would be batting at No.4 in filling the void left behind by Mathews.
Fast bowler Vishwa Fernando and Wellalage were added to SL’s squad and both were likely to make the final eleven.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s veteran all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz will replace Jaker Ali.
Sri Lanka (Probable XI): Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Udara, Dinesh Chandimal, Oshada Fernando, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kusal Mendis (wk), Dunith Wellalage, Vishwa Fernando, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando.
Bangladesh (Probable XI): Shadman Islam, Anamul Haque, Mominul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nayeem Hasan, Taijul Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana.
