by Rex Clementine
You don’t always agree with Dimuth Karunaratne. You tend to think that he’s too soft, too relaxed, suffers fools like Niroshan Dickwella gladly and adopts a defensive approach when it comes to selections. But who cares. Our opinions should be limited to newspaper columns only and shouldn’t go beyond. Under Dimuth Sri Lanka had become the first Asian nation to win a Test series in South Africa and now are on the verge of entering the finals of the World Test Championship. His methods have worked and which means even the incorrigibles like Dickwella need to be persevered.
Sri Lanka have a good chance of having a shot at the World Test Championship scheduled for later this year in English summer at The Oval if they beat the Kiwis 2-0. While Sri Lanka have tried half a dozen skippers in white ball cricket given the crisis they are facing, the Test captaincy has remained with Karunaratne for four years now and the red ball team has improved over the years. Karunaratne reminded everyone the need to draw first blood in the series opener in Christchurch on Thursday before looking at the bigger picture of the World Test Championship.
In seaming conditions, beating New Zealand would be a daunting task and you would have expected Sri Lanka to go all guns blazing with a four-man seam attack but they will not do anything out of the box.
Some believe that Sri Lanka will be better off with a lone spinner in Dhananjaya de Silva and playing four quicks but Karunaratne counter-argued that we are towards the end of the Southern Hemisphere summer and due to the heat wickets are breaking up and a second spinner will be handy. He wasn’t just saying it for the argument’s sake but for very good cricket reasoning. Perhaps it helps that someone like Rumesh Kaluwitharana is the selector on tour. In the current selection panel, his observations are valid, sensible and reasonable while his colleagues tend to shoot from the hip.
Having the experience of Prabath Jayasuriya trying to contain the Kiwis if he can’t run through them isn’t a bad option. However, a three-seam attack means there’s no place for Lahiru Kumara and his pace could be just the factor that gives Sri Lanka the edge.
Karunaratne has been getting a raw deal too as he’s not played any Test cricket since July last year. Opportunities for Test cricketers have been few and rare as Sri Lanka tend to play two-match series in World Test Championship and none whatsoever outside it. A slot in the World Test Championship final will perhaps force the guardians of the sport to think differently.