AGL 38.54 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (2.58%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.26%)
BOP 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.53%)
CNERGY 3.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.39%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (1.85%)
DGKC 88.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.86 (-2.06%)
FCCL 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.23%)
FFBL 67.35 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (1.28%)
FFL 10.61 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.53%)
HUBC 108.76 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (2.22%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.26%)
KOSM 6.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.46%)
MLCF 41.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.36%)
NBP 59.60 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (1.74%)
OGDC 183.00 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (0.97%)
PAEL 26.25 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (2.14%)
PIBTL 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.4%)
PPL 146.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.70 (-1.15%)
PRL 23.61 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1.68%)
PTC 16.56 Increased By ▲ 1.32 (8.66%)
SEARL 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.71%)
TELE 7.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 35.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.14%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (6.08%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.79%)
UNITY 26.75 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (1.33%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,806 Increased By 37.8 (0.39%)
BR30 29,678 Increased By 278.1 (0.95%)
KSE100 92,304 Increased By 366.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 28,840 Increased By 96.6 (0.34%)

GALLE: Dimuth Karunaratne said on Thursday he hopes Sri Lanka’s spin reinforcements will deliver despite their team’s Covid outbreak on the eve of the second Test against Australia.

One-day heroes Maheesh Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage could be handed Test caps as the hosts bid for a comeback in the final Test starting Friday on an expected turner at Galle.

Batting all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva, leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay and fast bowler Asitha Fernando were the latest to get the virus after left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama was ruled out on Tuesday.

“That’s really tough,” Karunaratne told reporters. “We were planning for the match two days earlier but it’s not easy when you are not able to finalise a proper XI, it’s not easy as captain.”

Australia consider Maxwell as spin all-rounder for second Test

The team will undergo another round of testing before Karunaratne gets down to finalise the XI but the captain believes Theekshana could replace de Silva.

“All the spinners are available in the 13-man squad, so if they are cleared to play we can use Prabath (Jayasuriya) as a left-arm spinner,” said Karunaratne.

“And Maheesh because we don’t have Dhananjaya de Silva as a second off-spin bowler as they have plenty of left-handers in top-order.

“We are not thinking about third spinner yet. First, we are going to have the (Covid) tests and think about whether we want to play an all-rounder in Dunith or spinner in (Lakshan) Sandakan.”

Theekshana, a mystery spinner who turns the ball both ways, claimed four wickets and kept Australia’s batsmen in check in the ODI series which the hosts won 3-2.

And 19-year-old Wellalage returned as the leading bowler in the ODIs as he picked up nine wickets with his left-arm spin.

Karunaratne said Test cricket is a different ball game but backed Theekshana to replicate his white-ball success in the longer format.

“He is a good bowler. We saw him giving trouble to the left-handers and the right-handers in one-dayers,” said Karunaratne.

“Hopefully he does the same thing. Just want him to do the same what he did in the ODIs, keep it simple.”

The hosts suffered a 10-wicket hammering at the hands of Australia in the opener which ended inside three days.

Comments

Comments are closed.