Spinners shine but questions remain post-Pakistan Test series
As the battle for the World Test Championship heats up among the nine Test playing nations, the home series against Pakistan was crucial for the hosts. The drawn series against Australia provided them an outside chance of qualifying for the World Test Championship final at Lords next year.
Dimuth Karunaratne and his team was buoyant about their prospects of toppling Pakistan in familiar conditions. On their previous tour to the island in 2015, Pakistan were able to beat Sri Lanka (2-1) in a three-match series. However, this time around it was a tussle between two evenly matched teams.
Pakistan is regarded as one of the countries that nullify spin attacks and it was interesting to see how the events panned out in Galle. It was always going to be a challenge for the young bowling attack that was dominated by spinners.
However, Pakistan had three fast bowlers for the first Test, where it eventually turned out to be the right decision with left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi bowling accurately and keeping the Sri Lankan batters on their toes. He took four wickets, conceding 58 runs in the first innings. The interesting fact was that, out of the 10 Sri Lankan wickets to fall in the first innings, seven were taken by the fast bowlers. The pitch certainly provided some assistance for the fast bowlers.
Dinesh Chandimal, who was the only frontline batsman, was successful in the first innings. He scored a gritty 76, felt that the hosts were 70 to 80 runs short which meant the bowling attack spearheaded by Prabath Jayasuriya had the challenge of restricting Pakistan to a manageable score.
Despite in his early days in Test cricket, Jayasuriya comes into the team with a wealth of experience at domestic level and he is well known to be a bowler who can bowl a lot of overs. His experience came in handy, and runs did not come as the opposition would have thought and the 30-year-old leg-spinner reaped the rewards. As wickets fell in clusters, Jayasuriya picked up his third consecutive five wicket haul.
Except Babar Azam, none of the other Pakistan batters lived up to the expectations. The Pakistan captain, who is ranked third in ICC Test rankings, had to steady the ship.
Chandimal continued to prosper as he scored 94 to set a daunting target of 342.
However Pakistan had fond memories chasing targets against Sri Lanka. In 2015 they chased 377 in Pallekele, and this may have given them the confidence despite their struggles against the spin in the first innings.
There were doubts if Sri Lanka could repeat the first innings performance with the ball. The Lankan bowlers wilted under pressure as they failed to keep the Pakistan batters on their toes. The spinners continued to leak runs consistently. The spin quartet of Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Maheesh Theekshana and Dananjaya de Silva had conceded 314 runs for the loss of six wickets in 118.2 overs. The 22-year-old Pakistan opening batsman, Abdullah Shafiq, stunned the hosts to chase down the target of 342.
Sri Lanka was unable to find the right combination of spinners to help out Prabath Jayasuriya, who bowled a marathon spell of 56.2 overs.
It could be observed that Sri Lanka has a tendency of bouncing back and rectifying the mistakes from the first Test of a series and that trend continued against Pakistan as well. Throughout the two Test series, none of the Lankan batsmen were able to score a century besides Dananjaya de Silva, who scored his ninth Test hundred. This was his first hundred in 12 innings and his innings was crucial in the second innings as it ensured that Pakistan did not have a chance to fight back. Sri Lanka went on to win the second Test and draw the series 1-1.
Chandimal continued to prosper as he continued to be consistent. He scored a total of 271 runs at an average of 90.33 in this series and 2022 can be considered as one of Chandimal’s most consistent years. He scored 719 runs at an average of 102.71
It was also the 100th Test for Angelo Mathews. Sri Lankans were determined to win the second Test for Mathews, who has served Sri Lanka for 12 years. Statistically he is among the best all-rounders the country has produced.
Among the concerns for Sri Lanka, Niroshan Dickwella is considered as the best wicketkeeper in the country. His inconsistent performances as a wicketkeeper/batsman has casted doubts regarding his future in Test cricket. He has scored just 307 at an average of 25.58 in the second edition and he has been inconsistent behind the stumps as well.
Over-dependency on spinners might cause problems for skipper Karunaratne when they tour overseas. Even at home, playing four consecutive matches might hinder their progress at Test level. More than 70 percent of the wickets that were taken by the spinners and it depicts Sri Lanka’s reliance on spinners.
Prabath Jayasooriya, who bowled 164.2 overs to take 17 wickets at the series and eventually was crowned as the man of the series. Even though Ramesh Mendis took 12 wickets, he was inconsistent throughout the series.
Sri Lanka’s one fast bowler policy almost backfired but the fact that they were able to draw the two home Test series against Australia and Pakistan might tempt them to stick to the same game plan on home conditions. But questions remain on how they will respond as tough challenges lie ahead in away series against New Zealand next year, their last Test series in the second edition of World Test Championship.