Sports
Dickwella told to get his act together
by Rex Clementine
Since Niroshan Dickwella came into the Sri Lankan side as injury replacement for Kusal Perea, there has been criticism from various corners. Despite being a regular in the Sri Lankan set up during the last decade, Dickwella failed to cement his place. He featured in 54 Test matches but failed to score a hundred and his discipline has been a talking point over the years. Chairman of Selectors Upul Tharanga while explaining the reasons that led to picking Dickwella for Bangladesh T-20s, said that a clear message had been sent to the wicketkeeper batsman that indiscipline will not be tolerated.
“Pathum is injured and KJP is injured. We needed someone for the top order. Shevon Daniel and Lasith Croospulle we took into consideration. They are both young players. They have good futures ahead of them. But their stats in domestic cricket aren’t great. Shevon I am sure will play for Sri Lanka for the next ten to 15 years. When he is struggling I don’t think it’s prudent to put him in the deep end. We chatted to captain and coach and they felt that bit of experience would be better to have and that’s how Dickwella made it to the side,” Tharanga explained.
“Discipline is very important. I spoke to Dickwella. The team is doing well. There has been no issues as per discipline. I explained to him why discipline is important and it has to be a priority.”
Tharanga also explained that Bhanuka Rajapaksa had gone out of the reckoning as he had not played domestic cricket.
“Bhanuka was in the reckoning for T-20s. He is an ideal replacement for someone like Kusal Perera. Bhanuka was part of one of the teams in the NSL. He had informed the manager that he wanted some rest due to a niggle. So, he withdrew from the domestic tournament and we had to rule him out. He had consulted a personal physiotherapist.”
Tharanga said that he had chatted to Kamindu Mendis asking him to bowl more in the nets so that one of the top five batters in the line-up gives a bowling option for the captain.
“If Kamindu can give us that option it is a plus point. We chatted to him before the team went to Bangladesh. In our T-20 side, among the top five, only Kamindu can bowl. Going into the World Cup, that’s crucial. If he can give us two overs of off-spin, that will be a huge thing.”
Tharanga also highlighted Charith Asalanka as a captain in waiting across all formats. The former Under-19 captain will stand in for the suspended Wanindu Hasaranga in the first two games.
“Charith has been earmarked as a future captain. The way he bats and the manner with which he builds an innings you can see that he is using his head a lot. He will show us his leadership qualities in this series.”
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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