5 promising signs for Sri Lanka despite a miserable series against India
It’s been a really tough period for Sri Lankan cricket recently. Angelo Mathews stepped down as the captain from all forms of the game after they lost to Zimbabwe 2-3.
And to add to their on-field miseries, India thrashed them 0-9 across all formats. Two things that have never happened in Sri Lanka’s cricketing history.
The team has been receiving a lot of flak from former players, who were fed up with the incompetence of the side. It also led to all members of the selection committee resigning, post their recent defeats.
Well, in such hard times for the team, it’s really hard to remain positive and look forward to better performances. However, at this point in time, things can hardly get any worse.
Here are 5 promising signs for Sri Lanka that they can carry forward:
#5 Return of their injured fast bowlers could strengthen their team
One shouldn’t forget that Sri Lanka were without some of their regular players, at least in the shorter formats of the game. The likes of Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal and Asela Gunaratne who are regular fixtures in their team were injured for part of or most of the tour.
Nuwan Pradeep was impressive when he nipped out six wickets on a placid, flat deck. So for Sri Lanka not to have him or Lakmal was a setback of sorts. They were the bowling spearheads when Malinga stepped aside from the test team and was missing in action for close to a year.
Suranga Lakmal generates good pace and bounce and could have troubled the Indian batsmen.
Lahiru Kumara was touted to be the bowler who could surprise the Indians with his pace, but he was well below par. He was providing a boundary ball every over, thus releasing pressure easily.
Kumara and Chameera should be groomed as not too many bowlers going around can cross the 140 kms/hr consistently.
With Lakmal and Pradeep returning and with Kumara and Chameera in the mix, Sri Lanka can look forward to some competitive fast bowling, as the current test team’s fast bowlers didn’t pose much of a threat for the Indian batsmen.