In spite of winning the series even the third Test against Pakistan which is billed to be teed off at the SSC grounds tomorrow (weather permitting) will have a special significance.
It is very rarely that a country can afford to have such an elation of a whitewash. However for Sri Lanka who had never won a series against Pakistan at home, this will be ‘golden opportunity’ to fulfill that distant dream. At the same time for skipper Kumar Sangakkara it would be the crowning of his dream debut as Sri Lanka’s first skipper to do a white wash in his first series and that too against one of the stronger oppositions in World Cricket.
For this game the selectors have brought back veteran Chaminda Vaas with the hope that Sri Lanka’s greatest new ball bowler ever would announce his retirement. However even by Saturday morning Vaas had not fully made up his mind that this was going to be his final appearance in white gear. Vaas speaking to the Sunday Times said: “It’s great to be back in the side. I am going make this an opportunity to help my country to perform a hat-trick of wins and honestly I feel great”. But, when asked if he was contemplating announcing his retirement from Test cricket Vaas said: “Up to now I have not made up my mind. I still have my drive and I would like to play a little longer, however I will have a chat with the relevant people by this evening (Saturday) and arrive at a decision”.
If the 35-year-old fast bowler who was thus almost directly responsible for Sri Lanka’s first overseas win gets the final nod on Monday morning, it will be the 111th Test for the veteran who has bagged 354 wickets with a best of 7 for 71 against the West Indies at the same venue.
Though Sri Lanka did win the two initial tests, those have not been completely convincing ones, in spite of the games failing run its full distance of five days. In both previous games it were sudden rues in concentration in the Pakistani top order batting that triggered two unforeseen collapses that saw them falling flat on their faces.
The Lankan team manager Brendon Kuruppu admitted that the Lankans had some problems in the batting department and they are putting a lot of emphasis on correcting that anomaly. “We are a side that had been scoring 450+ frequently in recent Test matches and only in the last two tests that we have not been able to bat with that same freedom as before. However up to Saturday noon we have not met as a team and discussed matters collectively, but some of the batsmen who were concerned about their own form were at the nets individually. However I must say the morale in our camp is very high at the moment and when a team is winning obviously it has to be that way,” Kuruppu added in a lighter vein.
 |
| Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene (L) celebrates their victory over Pakistan with team mate Thilan Samaraweera on the third day of their second test. (AFP) |
For Sri Lanka there was good news in the second innings of the second Test. It was most encouraging to see young Malinda Warnapura and veteran Mahela Jayawardena coming back into their own true form. Especially a Jayawardena in his true form poses a huge threat while batting on his own back yard at the SSC.
In bowling the Lankan would either rest young Thilina Thushara or the struggling mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis to make way for veteran Chaminda Vaas who has been recalled into the final squad.
Pakistan while looking in to Fawad Alam for another gritty innings would also may gamble with including allrounder Abul Razzak over the struggling batsmen Misbah-ul-Haq. Sri Lanka (from): Kumar Sangakkara (c), Tillakaratne Dilshan (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Tharanga Paranavithana, Malinda Warnapura, Thilan Samaraweera, Rangana Herath, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekera, Angelo Mathews, Chaminda Vaas, Ajantha Mendis, Kaushal Silva (wk),Suraj Randiv Chamara Kapugedera, Suranga Lakmal, Dhammika Prasad.
Pakistan (From): Younis Khan (c), Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rauf, Danish Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal (wk), Khurram Manzoor, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Yousuf, Saeed Ajmal, Salman Butt, Shoaib Malik and Umar Gul |
E-mail