Kumar Sangakkara will never play for Sri Lanka again. This is a fact Captain Angelo Mathews has to reckon with. The Sri Lankan team minus Sangakkara looks completely short on experience, grit and skills required to survive at the highest level. Can this team really beat the Indians, who are on a high after their win in the last match? Highly unlikely!
Indians have got their tails up as the series decider begins tomorrow at the SSC in Colombo. Sri Lanka have already lost two of their matches against Pakistan in Colombo and having lost to India in the last match, aren’t exactly in the best of form. But unfortunately for Mathews, there are no real answers to be found in the dressing room. Most if the players are young and inexperienced, apart from Mathews himself and his main bowler, Rangana Herath.
That’s why a lot will depend on how the junion members of the side, such as Lahiru Thirimanne, Kaushal Silva and Dinesh Chandimal perform. Talented spinner Kaushal may not start after having been hit on the thumb by a fast Umesh Yadav delivery, so Sri Lanka would be seriously short in the spin bowling department.
Sri Lanka haven’t revealed who is to replace Sangakkara at no. 3. Some of the names talked about are Upul Tharanga, who has been around for a long time without doing anything much, the talented Thirimanne and the young Kusal Perera. Another issue Sri Lanka have is that they have too many left-handers in the team, which makes them easy targets for India’s off spinner R. Ashwin, who has been in the form of his life.
India are expected to make a couple of forced changes as well. Cheteshwar Pujara will finally get a game for India, but he will play as an opener, as a replacement for the injured Murali Vijay. Pujara’s role has been diminished over the last year and he would view this as a make-or-break opportunity to reestablish himself in the Indian team.
The other new player to feature is Naman Ojha, the 32 year old wicketkeeper/batsman, who finally gets an opportunity to play for India following an injury to Wridhiman Saha, who had actually done well enough in the limited opportunities that he had been given.
The Indian team looks solid and fresh and there is no reason why they can’t win this match provided the weather holds true. It is the Monsoon season here in Sri Lanka, so there is always a chance of the match getting washed off. But it would take a really brave person to bet on Sri Lanka winning, and that’s for sure!
The Teams
Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3 Upul Tharanga, 4 Lahiru Thirimanne, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Dinesh Chandimal, 7 Kusal Perera (wk), 8 Dhammika Prasad, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Tharindu Kaushal/Dilruwan Perera, 11 Nuwan Pradeep
India: 1 Cheteshwar Pujara, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Rohit Sharma, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Stuart Binny, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav
Match Conditions
The pitch at the SSC has the reputation of being one of the flattest tracks in the world. But the last Test against Pakistan was played on a sporting surface. It’s hard to say for certain what sort of pitch we will have for tomorrow’s clash. Rains are likely and we will be very lucky to have 5 full days of Test cricket.
Watch India take on Sri Lanka in the 3rd Test match at 10 am from Friday to Tuesday, live on Sony Six!
