Sri Lanka v Pakistan, 2nd Test: Preview

The second and the final Test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan to be played at Colombo (SSC) will be the final time, Mahela Jayawardene, don his white flannels for his country in Test cricket. Jayawardene, known for playing with unruffled elegance and fine prowess of adhesion has been a great servant of Sri Lankan cricket.

Sri Lanka would also look to win the short two-Test match series against Pakistan. Sri Lanka won the first Test of the series by seven wickets. It was a see-saw contest that saw the fortunes of both units swinging back and forth, before the hosts sealed victory right at the end of the final day's play.

As fans chomped their nails in excitement, Angelo Mathews and Kithuruwan Vithanage took them to a superb win. It also has to be said that a major share of that fine victory has to go to Kumar Sangakkara and Rangana Herath. Both of them, with a memorable brush painted the ground with spellbinding performances.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka have called up Binura Fernando, the rookie fast bowler and opener, Dimuth Karunaratne, for the second Test. Fernando hasn't played a single First-Class game, but the pacer, who is built like an edifice is known for generating pace and bounce from a length. He is being called up into the squad, as a result of an ankle injury to Nuwan Pradeep. Shaminda Eranaga too is down with a hand injury.

Actually, Fernando, has struggled to leave footprints of impressive performances even in the Under-19 ranks. It seems to be a case of a cricketer selected more on potential than consistent performances.

In the batting department, Sri Lanka perhaps are overly reliant on Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Mathews. Others need to step up to the plate and come to the party.

Pakistan

Pakistan's batsmen played well during their first innings at SSC, but crumbled under pressure in the second innings. Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq continue to be their mainstays in the batting line-up. The likes of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq need to show consistency.

Sri Lanka picked Saeed Ajmal's doosra rather well. His around the wicket angle seems to have become predicable and batsmen, increasingly, are picking him better these days. He will also be under pressure, as Ajmal was reported for suspect action after the first Test.

Mohammad Talha, was unimpressive in the first Test. The likes of Dale Steyn and James Anderson have shown that you can take wickets at Galle in recent times. However, sadly, Talha perhaps lacks the skills required to do well on unresponsive surfaces for pacers. He needs to add more strings to his bow to succeed.

Wahab Riaz, lacks control, but can turn out to be a wicket-taker. The Pakistan think-tank could be tempted to give him a turn for the second Test.

Pitch conditions

Back in the 1990s and during early 2000s, SSC did help the bowlers to extract a bit of seam movement early on in the match. Even when England defeated Sri Lanka in 2001-02, there was a bit in it for the seamers. In recent times though, the decks have been flat. The silver lining is that for the second Test played between Sri Lanka and South Africa, the track did offer sharp turn for the spinners.

When the SSC ground is bathed in the arched dome of firmament, cricket can make for stunning viewing. Hopefully, the second Test will turn out to be a crackerjack contest between two fine sides under Azure Blue Sky.

Trivia

Herath needs four more wickets to become only the third Sri Lankan after Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas to reach 250 Test wickets.

Sangakkara needs 93 more runs to reach the glittering landmark of 12,000 Test runs.

The last four Test matches played at SSC have all turned out to be drawn games.

Jayawardene needs to take eight catches to equal Rahul Dravid's record for most number of catches in Test cricket. Dravid plucked 210 catches to Jayawardene's 202.