Ind in SL: Sri Lankan camp confident against Indians

Two days hence, Sri Lankans will be embarking on another journey to the unknown when they take on the strong Indian cricket combination in the first of the three Tests at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.   Strangely both teams are in the process of team building with some of the stalwarts who had carved a niche deciding to give their playing kit permanent rest in the international arena.   At the same time both teams have faced negative results and thus will be looking to take this as an opportunity to make amends.   Though in another format, India’s experiences against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe could not be termed as encouraging, while the Lankans did fail in all three formats of the game against Pakistan – a team whom they have had better results in the recent past.   The Lankan selection committee chairman Kapila Wijegunewardena said “We experienced some weaknesses in our cricket in all three formats of the game against Pakistan, however we have to take that result in a positive manner and make that a learning curve.   “At the same time injury to young Dushmantha Chameera was another factor for us in the crucial Test that we lost. Yet, we have the confidence that we do possess the talent in our bowling to take the necessary twenty wickets to win matches”.   Certainly the major attraction at Galle from Wednesday would be the penultimate outing of Lankan iconic cricketer Kumar Sangakkara who would be seen for the last time at the Southern capital at International level.   With him in the playing eleven the bar of confidence in the Lankan dressing room should be sky high.   In batting, besides the expertise of Sangakkara, openers, Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne have contributed enough to make the selectors feel more than comfortable.   At the same time Dinesh Chandimal who did a good job behind the wickets besides his batting during the Pakistan tour along with skipper Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne make up the rest of the middle order.   However one hopes if the Lankan camp is looking is for a seven-four combination the team hierarchy would take a closer look at the talent of dashing Kusal Janith Perera who is a genuine match winner on his day.   One wonders if it is a four bowler combination if the selectors seriously look at playing two spinners in P.H.T. Kaushal along with veteran Rangana Herath so that the youngster could learn a lot from the experience of Herath at Test match level.   Then the selectors have the names of four seamers -- Dushmantha Chameera – subject to fitness, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep and new comer Vishwa Fernando who bagged 2 for 17 in five overs during the Indian tour opener warm-up.   For the Indians it should have been a good enough outing with Ajinkya Rahane making a century and paceman Ishant Sharma capturing five wickets.   However there also must be some concern with the sound of skipper Virat Kholi’s bat. It failed to make much of a din in the first outing.   Sri Lanka from: Angelo Mathews (Captain), Lahiru Thirimanne (Vice Captain), Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal, Upul Tharanga, Jehan Mubarak, Kusal Janith Perera, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera, P H T Kaushal, Nuwan Pradeep, Dhammika Prasad, Vishwa Fernando, Dushmantha Chameera (subject to fitness).   India from: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Varun Aaron.