Sri Lanka search for World Test Championship points

Sri Lanka will be quietly confident lead up to the two match Test series against Bangladesh that gets underway today in Sylhet. Dhananjaya de Silva’s side is bottom of the table in ICC Test Championship with zero points and the team’s main goal will be to get out of that zone.

The reason why Sri Lanka are relegating bottom of the table is that they have not played much Test cricket so far in this cycle of the Test Championship but the upcoming few months has quite a bit of Test cricket and they should make some upward movements.

Although Bangladesh have caught up with rest of the cricketing world in recent years in white ball cricket, in Test match cricket, they are still quite a distance away. For example, there have been 24 Test matches between these teams with Sri Lanka winning 18 of them. Bangladesh’s sole win came at the P. Sara Oval in 2017.

Prabath Jayasuriya is Sri Lanka’s trump card. The left-arm spinner has only featured in ten Test matches but has already claimed 67 wickets. Jayasuriya’s biggest asset is his control. The impeccable line he bowls for hours tests batsmen’s patience. There’s the occasional arm ball too and when runs dry up, batters try to be adventurous and eventually pay the price.

Sri Lanka will miss Asitha Fernando though. Once the ball gets softer and the pitch goes flat, the right-arm quick with his ability to reverse swing the ball has been a captain’s dream. He also uses the bouncer well, unsettling the batsmen and was hero in Sri Lanka’s last series win in Bangladesh.

Kamindu Mendis has been prolific in the National Super League – the domestic four-day tournament – and has an average of 61 in First Class cricket. Mendis did well in his Test debut two years ago having come in as injury replacement as he posted 61 in the team’s only innings against Australia in 2022. However, that happens to be his only Test appearance.

With the top seven places in the side secured, Mendis is unlikely to make it into the side but he will certainly keep the rest of his team mates on their toes.Sri Lanka start as firm favourites but it remains to be seen what tricks Bangladesh Head Coach Chandika Haturusinghe has up his sleeves.Bangladesh are without their two seniormost players – Shakib-al-Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim, who are out with injuries.

Sri Lanka (From)

Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, Nishan Madushka, Lahiru Udara, Dimuth Karunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama (Wicketkeeper), Dhananjaya de Silva (Captain), Kamindu Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ramesh Mendis, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Chamika Gunasekara, Lahiru Kumara and Prabath Jayasuriya.

Bangladesh (From)

Najmul Shanto (Captain), Litton Das, Mahmudul Hasan, Mominul Haque, Shadman Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Zakir Hasan, Mehidy Hasan, Khaled Ahmed, Nayeem Hasan, Shoriful Islam, Musfik Hasan, Nahid Rana and Taijul Islam.

Umpires:

Chris Gaffaney (NZL) and Richard Illingworth (ENG)

Third Umpire:

Rod Tucker (AUS)

Match Referee:

Jeff Crowe (NZL)