We have the advantage of playing against Pakistan in the first Test at Galle International Cricket Stadium today (16) and want to produce a result in our favour after playing three consecutive Test matches (two Australian test matches and Pakistan first Test) said Sri Lanka Test cricket skipper Dimuth Karunaratne at the the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.
The press briefing was conducted by SLC media on the Galle grounds (near the scoreboard) while the two captains, Dimuth Karunaratne and Baber Azam were keen to answer questions from the media.
Actually we have not finalised the final eleven for today's Test match but there may not be any changes as our players really performed well during the secund Australia Test.
However, now we will meet different opponent Pakistan and they are very talented in all formats in cricket.We have a good home advantage and winning the second Test against Australia is a big boost for this Test match said Dimuth.
We never underestimate Pakistani team. They have good seamers like Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali while experienced spinner Yasir Shah is always a big challenge and he performed well in the last Sri Lanka series.
We have a good batting unit as well as bowling unit and they did really well at the last Australia match and looking forward to continue the same form said Sri Lankan experienced opener Dimuth. Pathum Nissanka the in-form opener will miss today's game as he has still not fully recovered after testing positive for COVID-19 while Oshada Fernando has replaced him as opener.
Meanwhile, Dhananjaya de Silva the middle order batter who was out at the second Australia test due to Covid 19 is back in the team for this game. Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne said Dhananjaya de Silva performed well in the the last few games and as a policy we can't drop him and he will replace Kamindu Mendis today.We knew Kamindu Mendis played by scoring 61 but Dhananjaya the experienced all rounder was ahead of Kamindu at this stage.
Sri Lanka is looking to play the same spin combination of Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis and Maheesh Theekshana for this Pakistan Test match while two pacemen Kasun Rajitha and Asitha Fernando are also in the final twelve players list and most probably Rajitha will play with three spinners in today's game. Dinesh Chandimal is in good form as number 5 but Dhananjaya de Silva was number 5 in early matches but we will not decide yet either Chandimal or the Dhananjaya for fifth batting slot. Niroshan Dickwella also once again will get a chance to play today's game as a wicket keeper.
I have to look at Dickwella once again. He kept wickets very well but made few mistakes in the last two matches especially on this Galle spin track. We can't drop Dickwella and now there is competition on wicket keeping between Chandimal and Dickwella and we will give Dikka (Dickwella) another chance. We hope he will come back strongly said Karunaratne.
Actually Sri Lanka is number three at the ICC Test championship while Pakistan at number 4. Dimuth Karunaratne said we are happy about our position and never think about finals. We have to take match by match and go forward in our bid to enter the enter the ICC Test Championship final added Dimuth.
Meanwhile Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said we are very happy to play on the beautiful Galle International Cricket Stadium. We are well prepared and wanted to give a good challenge. Actually Sri Lanka is always difficult to beat at their home conditions while their spin department is very powerful. We know the Galle wicket is favourable for spinners. We have experienced spinner Yasir Shah and he is ready with good preparations before this match .He showed his class during the last Sri Lanka series while our team played a three-day warm up game to get match practice before the Test series added Baber Azam.
Both Sri Lanka and Pakistan teams were involved in training sessions yesterday at the Galle International Cricket Stadium while former Pakistan off spinner Saqlain Mushtaq who is the head coach of Pakistan team was busy with the team yesterday and they got side wicket training as well as middle wicket training before the first Test and was expected to finalise their team yesterday evening.
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