Kaushal report out in few days
View(s):Chairman of selectors, Sri Lanka Cricket Kapila Wijegunawardene feels that they could finalise during the next few days the combination to take on the visiting West Indian cricketers. So far the only drawback has been the inclement weather that they have been experiencing during the past few days. According to Wijegunawardene this has hampered their plans to have some practice games ahead of the squad being finalised.
The chief selector is of the view their main area of concern is the batting combination. He says the main area of concern is the first three slots which were hustled between Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne and Upul Tharanga. However one feels that the combination of Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva had not committed enough demerits to break that combination in the first place. He said that the success of this combination would be the catalyst during this series.
Wijegunawardene however feels that once they overcome that problem along with another area of concern in the middle order, they could overcome that problem too. “Another area that we have been working very assiduously is on fielding. We are working on it and I am sure with the improvement of the fitness level we should improve our fielding a few niches more”.
It is learned that young off spinner P.H.T. Kaushal who was called by the Lankan bowling authorities during the Test against India on the concerns about his bowling action and underwent Tests at the Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai should have the reports by Tuesday. However the authorities are still uncertain if they would bar the off spinner from bowling the doosra. An informed insider said that even if Kaushal is banned from bowling his doosra that would not impede the progress of the bowler. According to him most of Kaushal’s wickets have come from off spinner and if he could concentrate more on the other variations he could be just as effective. But, the only area of concern is his confidence level.
The Lankan chief selector says that he would lay a lot of emphasis on the Lankan spin combination of Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera and P.H.T. Kaushal. Once again the success of this important series would weigh lot upon the Lankan spin combination. For some time now, the Lankan pace battery has been free of any afflictions. Wijewardena said that they have the complement of fast bowling choices, yet once again choosing the right combination would be very crucial.