Sports
Tharanga justifies Wellalage selection
by Rex Clementine
Former captain Upul Tharanga was an admirable bloke when he was playing cricket and he is earning bigger accolades as Chairman of Selectors. Since assuming duties early this year, he has held a media briefing before every home series or tour explaining his decisions. Yesterday was no different as he met journalists at SLC headquarters to discuss the squad picked for the T-20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the United States.
Tharanga shed light into every selection that was made explaining some of the tough calls the selectors had to make. Tharanga’s committee has shown transparency, honesty and accountability. Had it been showcased by his predecessors, Sri Lanka wouldn’t have suffered the humiliation of missing out on a Champions Trophy slot.
The selection of Dunith Wellalage had surprised a few as the all-rounder is yet to make his debut in the shortest format of the game although he had been a regular in the ODI format. Tharanga explained why the 21-year-old was picked.
“When you take the conditions in United States and West Indies, we believe the wickets will be slow there. We played two spinners this year during our bilateral series. We believe that during the World Cup we might need an additional spinner. The left-arm spinner gives you the option of bowling during Power Plays. He also gives you the option of playing a spin bowing all-rounder instead of a seam bowling all-rounder.”
But should Wellalage have been featured in T-20s had he been in the selectors’ plans? “You can’t say that he wasn’t in our plans. But our combination didn’t allow us to play him. Dunith only gets a break when the front-line bowlers aren’t available and he has done justice from the opportunities he has got.”
Sri Lanka also have Dhananjaya de Silva in the 15-member squad and Tharanga said that the squad had enough fire power and the all-round spin bowling option was preferred over the others.
The national cricket team will leave for New York this evening (Tuesday). The team will have a two-week preparation camp in New York. Their campaign gets underway on the 3rd June against South Africa.
Sri Lanka are pooled in Group ‘D’ alongside the Proteas, Nepal, Netherlands and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka will be in US for a month and will play Dallas and Florida as well apart from New York. Their last group game is in St. Lucia in the Caribbean and if they qualify for the second round will move to Antigua.
Playing just his second Test and the first in his team’s starting XI, Pasindu Sooriyabandara made Sri Lanka dream of the rarest of possibilities, but reality imposed itself on the SSC late on day four as India regained their grip on a Test match that had seemed to spiral out of control after the threat of bad weather led them to enforce the follow-on.
After Sooriyabandara put on 58 with Kamil Mishara for the second wicket and 115 with Kamindu Mendis for the third, Sri Lanka were at one stage 209 for 3, or just four runs behind with seven second-innings wickets in hand, on a day-four pitch that was still looking excellent for batting. India’s bowlers were into their 149th over across two consecutive innings, and looking short of both penetration and inspiration against a top order that had never allowed them to settle into their lengths.
Just then, however, Manav Suthar, who had borne the brunt of Sri Lanka’s positive intent, dismissed Dhananjaya de Silva and then Sooriyabandara in the space of two overs, the latter out eight short of a maiden Test hundred. Soon after, Saransh Jain trapped Niroshan Dickwella lbw, and Sri Lanka were effectively 5 for 6. By the time rain arrived to bring an early end to the day, Sri Lanka’s seventh-wicket pair had only added a further 11 runs to their tally.
If Sri Lanka still retain any hope going into the final day of this series, it will rest on the shoulders of Sonal Dinusha, batting on 7 in his final innings of a remarkable series. Earlier in the day, he had converted his overnight 85 into his second century of the series, with his only other completed innings bringing him 84.
Scores:
Sri Lanka 290 in 89.4 overs (Pasindu Sooriyabandara 80, Sonal Dinusha 103; Prasidh Krishna 3-52, Manav Suthar 3-85) and 229 for 6 in 72.4 overs (f/o) (Pasindu Sooriyabandara 92, Kamindu Mendis 55, Sonal Dinusha 7*; Manav Suthar 2-81) lead India 503 for 9 dec by 16 runs
[Cricinfo]
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