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Last Updated : 2024-04-29 22:32:00
2 April 2024 08:37 pm - 19 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Harsha Amarasinghe
Colombo, April 2 (Daily Mirror) - Sri Lanka were just three wickets away from claiming a comfortable 2-0 series win against Bangladesh at the end of fourth day's play in the ongoing second Test in Chattogram.
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.
Jayantha Tuesday, 02 April 2024 09:07 PM
It was inclusion of Kamidu Mendis made the difference. If he was not in both matches. Things may have being worse for the team. Good thing os kamidu is good with the ball too. He has already taken two wickets. We need players like this in the team so that we always have additional part time ballers. SL was a dominant international team when ever we had several batters who were effective like front line ballers. Sanath,Aravinda,Dilshan,Arnold,Mathews were some example in past. Instead of packing the lineup with wicketkeeper batters look for players like that. Probably they should include Janith also in this lineup alone side Asalanka. This way ww have a spin heavy balling unit so that we can always take 3 fast ballers with us in both test and odi.
Bandu Wednesday, 03 April 2024 05:51 AM
But remember both Aus Eng NZ always have good keeper/batters. And regularly at that.
Sidath Wednesday, 03 April 2024 08:10 AM
Kamindu is the new TM Dilshan of Sri Lanka.
Citizen Tuesday, 02 April 2024 09:36 PM
Don't celebrate too early. Still 3 wickets to go. On the other hand, how can we define a team by just 2 matches.
Ranjit De Alwis Wednesday, 03 April 2024 06:08 AM
Be Positive man. Learn to appreciate.
stronger opponets in SL and alien conditions Wednesday, 03 April 2024 09:52 AM
True. Let's see how they perform against much stronger opponets in SL and alien conditions.
Inshi Tuesday, 02 April 2024 10:26 PM
Sri Lanka have talented players and what they lacked was a skipper who could show them the way. Now that all those boxes are ticked, the players must give off their best.
Jude Tuesday, 02 April 2024 11:26 PM
It's too early to judge how good the SL Test team. Well, under the ICC World Test Championship series SL gonna play next England then NZ after that SA and finally in Jan/Feb 2025 against Australia, thereafter we'll analyze how good the SL test team, yeah. It's gonna be a acid test.
shaan abeydeera Wednesday, 03 April 2024 01:27 AM
If DDS is really aggressive he would put BD bat again as a challenging captain.....LK wanted ballers to have rest but Prabath batted almost 25% in the innings...not acceptable.....
DJ Wednesday, 03 April 2024 02:34 AM
Wait till we play real teams , we have been playing Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. There is nothing to celebrate in this.
Nirmal De Silva Wednesday, 03 April 2024 02:47 AM
Too early to judge yet.we have to face top three teams to get a measure.But he is good.Comming up English tour gives us a better idea how our team performs.At the moment he is leading from front.
Ram Wednesday, 03 April 2024 03:35 AM
Kamindu is doing a marvellous job at present. We must not overestimate our players as from the Tables we were not pitted against a strong team. Let us play the big guns before further comment
neil Wednesday, 03 April 2024 06:49 AM
Let us make more positive comments and encourage them. Cricket board also needs overhaul soon with minimum political interferences. They need the confidence and it was good to start with AFG and Bangla so they will be mentally fit to face stronger teams now.
RuwanL Wednesday, 03 April 2024 08:46 AM
Sri Lanka won and will win the matches because Bangladeshis dropped catches! Most of the high scores in our team were very lucky.
Rukman Dissanayake - Former School Coach Wednesday, 03 April 2024 09:39 AM
True he is the right wise captain, well the Board should make him to offer him the captaincy to T20 and 50 overs too.
S.P. Samarasinghe Wednesday, 03 April 2024 09:41 AM
He is a cool captain like Arujuna. Why he is only for Test why not for T20 and limited overs.
Third Umpire Wednesday, 03 April 2024 11:21 AM
Isn't Bangladesh the 9th-ranked test team? What's the big deal?
Man Wednesday, 03 April 2024 11:37 AM
Next test series will be in England and they have regarded SL more than the West Indies. So, SL have to play well. Sanga knows how to avoid the defensive strokes by not poking at every ball. Just covering the stumps with the bat according to the line of balls, if and when the ball would hit the stumps. Rising balls and bouncers have to be evaded. England will require one session to demolish as they did when Dilshan captained even after scoring over 500 runs in the first innings and lost the match. Dilshan got his thumb dislocated to a rising ball of Plunkett in 190's or so without leaving. 2nd innings collapse in BD is a reminiscence of it. SL must be very cautious and learn from mistakes and beat England.
Relaxed captain can do wonders! Wednesday, 03 April 2024 02:06 PM
The special feature I noticed on Dhanajaya's face was his relaxed mood. This made others in the team more comfortable and confident. After all, these are professional players and need a relaxed atmosphere to perform at their best.
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