COLOMBO: India will go all out for a 2-0 series sweep against injury-depleted Sri Lanka to revive their World Test Championship (WTC) hopes when the second and final Test begins in Colombo on Sunday.
Shubman Gill and his team are fifth in the standings and victory in Colombo would inject fresh momentum into their bid to reach the top two and qualify for their third WTC final. The touring side, who the opening test in Galle by 165 runs, appear to have the means to achieve that goal.
Devdutt Padikkal made a match-winning hundred in Galle to suggest he could be the answer to India’s quest for a dependable number three.
Drafted into the squad as an injury replacement for Sai Sudharsan, Padikkal’s elegant hundred came in only his third Test.
India have also unearthed a promising spinner in Manav Suthar who took 10 wickets in Galle.
“He [Suthar] is somebody who is very accurate,” India’s spin bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule told reporters.
“His trajectories are just getting better and better. He puts in a lot on the ball, the revs are good and he is somebody who is like a banker for us, consistently being in the lengths which we want to.”
The mood is completely different in the rival camp.
Sri Lanka’s bid to level the series suffered a major setback after batters Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal and Pathum Nissanka were ruled out of the final test.
While uncapped batter Kamil Mishara and all-rounder Sahan Arachchige have been drafted into the squad, Sri Lankan skipper Dhananjaya de Silva said that the former was likely to make his Test debut on Sunday.
Mishara, a left-handed batsman who has already represented Sri Lanka in white-ball cricket, has been a prolific run-scorer in first-class cricket in recent seasons.
Sri Lanka, who suffered a 1-0 series defeat in the West Indies earlier in the year, are in dire need of a win to keep their WTC campaign afloat.
“These are two evenly matched sides and we expect to put up a good performance in this Test,” de Silva said.
YOUNGSTERS IMPRESS GAMBHIR
Indian coach Gautam Gambhir said he was pleased with the rise in younger players – particularly Padikkal and Suthar – ahead of the second Test against Sri Lanka.
“Extremely satisfying to see these younger players getting an opportunity and them delivering straight away,” Gambhir told reporters, but added that there is “still a lot of work to be done”.
“You can’t judge players by only one or two performances,” the coach said.
While India are ranked number one in ODIs and T20Is, their fortunes in Test cricket have been less impressive, having lost a home series to South Africa last year and another to New Zealand before that.
Gambhir said there is no cause for concern and that the team is going through a “transition in Tests”.
“I have believed that for the last one year we have done reasonably well,” he added. The former India opener also made a case for three-match series, arguing that two-match contests leave little room for a team to recover from an early setback.
