Sri Lanka will move up in rankings with series win over Pakistan

Rex Clementine in  Galle

After a hard fought win in the second Test against Australia this week, Sri Lanka could make further inroads in ICC World Test Championship in the Test series against Pakistan that gets underway today in Galle. Dimuth Karunaratne’s side is currently placed third in the points table of WTC behind Australia and South Africa and although a series win will not take them above any of the teams, they will be widening the gap between themselves and fourth placed India. That keeps their hopes of playing the WTC final alive. A 1-0 series  win will also see them move up to number six in ICC Test Rankings.

Possessing good players of spin,  skipper Dimuth Karunaratne admitted that Pakistan will be a tougher challenge than Australia, who lost nine wickets in a session in the second Test, which ended inside four days. Players who were ruled out of the second Test against Australia due to COVID are returning to the side and Dhananjaya de Silva is certain to play with Kamindu Mendis missing out.

It was a tough call on Mendis, who posted a half-century on debut.  When the selectors named Dinesh Chandimal as reserve wicket-keeper, many thought that it was curtains for Niroshan Dickwella, whose keeping was sloppy in the last series. But the Sri Lankan captain said that you can not leave out a player for having one bad game.Pathum Nissanka will not be part of the side as he is still recovering after getting COVID. Oshada  Fernando will replace him.

The interesting news from the Pakistan camp is that Yasir Shah will make a comeback. The leg-spinner has not played any international cricket since getting injured in August last year. He had a terrific series last time Pakistan toured Sri Lanka picking up 24 wickets. Pakistan won the 2015 series 2-1.

All eyes will be on Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who will be playing his first Test match in  Sri Lanka. He is ranked fourth in the world behind Joe Root, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. Babar has an appetite for big runs in Test match cricket.

Similarly Shaeen Afridi is one of the highly rated fast bowlers in the world who will be also playing his first game  in Sri Lanka. The 22-year-old generates serious pace and he’s on the verge of 100 Test wickets in what has been a brief 24 match career.

Pakistan (From) Babar Azam (Captain), Mohammad Rizwan (Wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (Wicketkeeper), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood and Yasir Shah Sri Lanka

Sei Lanka Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Oshada Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella (Wicketkeeper), Dinesh Chandimal (Wicketkeeper), Ramesh Mendis, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka, Prabath Jayasuriya, Dunith Wellalage and Jeffrey Vandersay. Umpires:

Marais Erasmus (RSA) and Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)
Third Umpire: Rod Tucker (AUS)
Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZ)