Image Credit- AFP
Sri Lanka’s seamers
are dictating the game for these teams in their second consecutive Test series.
Asitha Fernando and Kasun Rajitha shared a total of 24 wickets during the
two-match series in Bangladesh in 2022. Having claimed all 20 wickets in
Sylhet, Sri Lanka’s speed attack travels to Chattogram this time around, a feat
not accomplished by the team since 1986.
Beyond the significant victory in Sylhet, Sri Lanka will benefit more from
having discovered Kamindu Mendis, a lower middle-order batsman who has already
seen instant success at the highest level.
They will feel most
confident when Shakib Al Hasan returns from his eye problem that has kept him
out of the tour thus far. Shakib is not just one of their top batsmen but also
a highly skilled bowler on the Chattogram surface, having taken the most wickets
at this location with 64 over the course of 19 Test matches. Taijul Islam, with
the second-highest Chattogram wicket total of 47, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, in
third place with 34, are with him.
Prabath Jayasuriya,
the principal spinner for Sri Lanka, will be playing just his fourth Test match
abroad; he has taken four wickets in his career away from home. Ramesh Mendis,
an offspin-bowling all-rounder, is the most likely player to be included in the
playing XI should Sri Lanka decide to go with a second frontline spin option,
but he has only played two international matches.
Sri Lanka has never lost a Test match in Bangladesh, and they won by such a
wide margin in Sylhet that they can start the second Test reasonably confident.
But Bangladesh would consider the match in Sylhet to be somewhat of an anomaly.
With Shakib in their ranks, Chattogram will likely feel and act like a whole
different team.