2 April 2024 08:37 pm
By Harsha Amarasinghe
Newly appointed Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva is on the verge of securing back to back series victories on a relatively decent pitches. Although Bangladesh and Afghanistan cannot be considered as top class teams such as Australia or India, they are no longer easy games.
De Silva's first game as captain which was played against Afghanistan didn't go too well for him personally getting a golden duck, but he made up for that big time smashing twin centuries on his second Test as captain against Bangladesh. Both the centuries were scored under tremendous pressure when Sri Lanka had lost its top order. De Silva and his fellow school mate Kamindu Mendis were fairly aggressive against the bowlers in the first Test against Bangladesh which enabled Sri Lanka to shift the pressure back on to the hosts.
The 32-year-old was also very transparent about his batsmen not being able to make runs in the first Test match and called for better show in the second game. Interestingly, every single batsman including Nishan Madushka, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews scored a fifty in the second match.
It was also quite visible how the bowling unit as a whole has changed its approach. Particularly, the fast bowlers appeared to find new level of confidence. Lahiru Kumara who looked out of sorts throughout his career has become one of De Silva's main men. His pace may have dropped a bit but he looks very sharp with the bowling in hand.
Kumara though still has a long way to go as a fielder. He was called out several times on the pitch by Prabath Jayasuriya as well as captain De Silva.
De Silva's planning overall against Bangladesh was spot on. Especially, the way Sri Lanka set up Shakib Al Hasan's wicket in the first innings was commendable.
The former Richmond College cricketer also didn't hesitate show his aggression off the field as well. When he was continuously pressed to make a comment about Shakib Al Hasan returning to Bangladesh squad, he didn't hesitate to play hardball with Bangladeshi journalist claiming 'you should ask this from Bangladesh captain.'
He was also asked about the on going tensions between the two countries from the start of the T20 series and he struck back with an epic reply, "if they come hard us, we'll go hard at them, if they stay calm, then we stay calm."
It is still very early days to judge Dhananjaya de Silva the captain. He will be judged upon how Sri Lanka play against tougher opponents like India, Australia and England on unfriendly conditions, but there is no doubt that he has got off to the best possible start as the captain.