Sri Lanka told to rest Chameera  

Rex Clementine in Bangalore

Captain Dimuth Karunaratne must be an angry man after being told to rest his pace ace Dushmantha Chameera from today’s second Test match against India here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Karunaratne at the press briefing spoke diplomatically, but his disappointment is understandable as he had made the decision ahead of the first Test to reserve Chameera as he was going to let him loose for the pink ball Test.

Chameera is not injured but it is learnt that he has complained of ankle pain. The Sri Lankan team management had been given the green light to play Chameera in the day-night Test but yesterday morning was advised via an email that he will be only considered for white ball cricket until this year’s World Cup.

Sri Lanka have been forced to make two other changes for the game with Lahiru Kumara ruled out after the first day of the series with a hamstring injury. His place will be taken by left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama who’ll be the second spinner partnering Lasith Embuldeniya. Ideally, Sri Lanka would have preferred an off-spin option but Ramesh Mendis is back home injured and replacement players have failed to reach India on time due to visa issues.

Pathum Nissanka is also ruled out with a back injury and his place will be taken by Kusal Mendis, who missed the first Test with a hamstring injury.

India are expected to do one change with Axar Patel coming in for Jayant Yadav.  Patel has featured in just five Test matches but has 36 wickets to his name including a match bag of 11 wickets against England in what was India’s last day night Test.

Sri Lanka’s batting needs to step up after failing to score 200 runs in an innings in Mohali.  They were handed an innings and 222 run defeat in the first Test and how the tourists will fare against India’s formidable attack remains to be seen.

This is the third pink ball Test that India is hosting and both previous games ended inside three days. This game too is unlikely to last the full distance.

The wicket here is expected to assist spin bowlers so the toss would be crucial. If Sri Lanka bat first and post 300 runs, they will have a huge advantage in the game. Skipper Karunaratne is the sort of player who is capable of scoring big runs but others need to step up as well.

Sri Lanka (Probable XI)

Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Niroshan Dickwella (Wicketkeeper), Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Embuldeniya, Praveen Jayawickrama and Vishwa Fernando.

India (Probable XI)

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishab Pant (Wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.