Match facts

Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Start time 1000 local (0430 GMT)

Big Picture

“We’re both young teams,” has been the phrase of the tour so far. “Both teams are rebuilding,” captains, players and team directors have said. All of this is another way of saying neither team is particularly good at present. There is a lot of chatter about potential and talent. Less about Test form and recent record.India are further down the transition track, and so appear the more polished outfit. KL Rahul is the least experienced batsman in the top order, but he already has a ton in Australia. Rohit Sharma is an unproven Test no. 3, but he has sent Sri Lanka bowlers into therapy in other formats. Between Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, there is enough quality in that top order to hurt Sri Lanka, as long as the visitors can overcome their aversion to batting well away from home.After years of seeking a partner for Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka’s opening partnership has emerged as one of the hosts’ strengths. Dimuth Karunaratne still plays the snazzy legside flicks, but has recently discovered the offside, and added a few points to his batting IQ. Kaushal Silva hangs on like a limpet, rarely punishing the opposition, but often annoying them.There are the flakier batsmen – Jehan Mubarak and Upul Tharanga are yet to prove they can be Test performers. But offsetting this uncertainty is Angelo Mathews, who after Kumar Sangakkara is becoming Sri Lanka’s sure thing.The attacks are evenly matched, even if Sri Lanka’s pace stocks are again diminished by injury. Dhammika Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep are improving bowlers, and in Rangana Herath and Tharindu Kaushal Sri Lanka have a varied spin threat. They will hope Sri Lanka stay within reach of India for the first three days, before the Galle surface’s cantankerous mood takes hold on days four and five.It isn’t a Galle match without a late batting collapse, and as India appear intent on fielding five bowlers, Sri Lanka will hope to expose the lower middle order. Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri will feel the opposite. The extra bowler in the side will help put pressure right back on the Sri Lanka’s batsmen.

Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)

Sri Lanka: LWLLL
India: DDDLL

In the spotlight

A day out from the match, Kumar Sangakkara already smiles down from almost as many hoardings as the politicians contesting in the election, in under a week. Fans in Galle will hope he can give the venue he calls his “favourite ground to play in” a final Test to remember. As big scores are rare at the P Sara, the first three days of this Test present his best chance of matching Don Bradman’s double-century record. It remains to be seen if he will be back to his hungriest in this series, after a lower-intensity outing against Pakistan.Virat Kohli had an outstanding tour of Australia, but has been short of runs across formats since the World Cup. Two failures in the practice match won’t have done him much good. The early stages of this Test should present conditions he is more comfortable in, but with all the talk of leading an aggressive team, and trialing new ploys to fit the new philosophy, will the focus on his own run-making persist?

Team news

Dushmantha Chameera has been bowling in the nets, but it appears as if the selectors would prefer to preserve him for the Tests in more seam-friendly conditions in Colombo. Lahiru Thirimanne has a weak grip on his no. 4 position, and could easily be replaced by Upul Tharanga. Tharindu Kaushal will likely play ahead of Dilruwan Perera.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Kaushal Silva, 2 Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Upul Tharanga, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt.), 6 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 7 Jehan Mubarak, 8 Dhammika Prasad, 9 Tharindu Kaushal, 10 Rangana Herath, 11 Nuwan PradeepM Vijay is out with a hamstring injury, which means Rahul will open alongside Shikhar Dhawan. India will likely prefer the pace of Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav to the skill of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The spin attack will probably comprise R Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh.India (probable): 1 KL Rahul, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Rohit Sharma, 4 Virat Kohli (capt.), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 7 R Ashwin, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 Umesh Yadav

Pitch and conditions

There have been intermittent rains in the days preceding the match, so expect a stop-start game. Despite the bad weather, however, the pitch seems to be a typical Galle track, which will dry out considerably over the course of the game.

Stats and trivia

• The match will be Angelo Mathews’ 50th Test.
• Once the hosts’ fortress, Sri Lanka have lost two of their last three matches in Galle.
• India have not won a series in Sri Lanka since 1993.
• None of India’s top six have played a Test in Sri Lanka.

Quotes

“In the last eight years of my career, Kumar Sangakkara has helped me personally. He is always willing to help the young guys and whenever you play a bad shot he comes up to us and says that we can play it in a better way. He gives confidence to the youngest and not only for the batsmen – for the bowlers as well. We learnt a lot from him and we are thankful for who he has been for the team on and off the field. He is your go-to man. You can always go to him and get an honest opinion.”
“It’s a great opportunity to create some momentum, knowing it’s a three-match series. Even if it’s an off day, you still have time to re-group and think about what went wrong. If it’s a good day you can learn from it.”

While the old firm of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara made merry in their last few years, unloading big scores on oppositions like they were having a going-out-of-business sale, Sri Lanka had also invested in a few startups. Lahiru Thirimanne was among the promising ventures that impressed in domestic cricket, and made encouraging starts to their international careers.There has been some frustration in the years since, but the investment in Thirimanne has begun to come good in ODIs. His Test average, though, remains in the mid-20s. He hit two centuries in the 2014 Asia Cup, and became Sri Lanka’s youngest World Cup centurion in March, so the selectors feel there is quality there. They will hope that his 44 in Galle and a 62 at the P Sara hint at big Test runs to come, following a lean series against Pakistan.”If you look at the ODIs, I was always in the runs,” Thirimanne said. “In Tests, the shots I played weren’t executed all that well. There was an element of bad luck as well – sometimes the shots went directly to hand. Mentally I never had an issue. I was always ready for the matches I played. But then when you spend a little bit of time at the crease it gets easier. Once you score 20 or 30 runs, you start playing those shots well.”Despite his good returns in ODIs, Thirimanne has largely been a slow mover in Tests, in which his career strike rate is 40.26. He has added attacking strokes to his ODI game, but his approach in Tests could do with some fine-tuning, he said.”When I go to bat, usually there’s a bit of pressure on the team. There are two options – to hit out quickly and try to get some runs with the batsman on the other end, or to stay at the wicket for a while and work through it. I did take the second option quite often. But then sometimes you think that it would have been good to follow a middle path – to score runs without taking too many risks. My low strike rate has often had to do with the situation.”Thirimanne has been a victim of Sri Lanka’s frequent top-order reshuffles. In this series alone, he has batted at Nos. 3, 4, 6 and 7, and has had no more than 13 innings in any particular spot, out of 42 overall.He has been talked about as Kumar Sangakkara’s replacement at No. 3, and even his ODI success has come in the top three. But with Upul Tharanga set to return to the XI, Thirimanne may have to settle for a middle-order position.”You have to bat well wherever you get the opportunity, so there’s no real excuse,” Thirimanne said.  “That’s something I’ve learned since making my debut. You have to play anywhere at this level. That said, I do have good one-day form in the top three, and I hope I can replicate that in Tests.”Thirimanne has been among the left-handed batsmen who have struggled against R Ashwin’s offspin this series. He has fallen to Ashwin three times in four innings.”Even though Ashwin doesn’t have a doosra or too many other variations, he troubles batsmen with those changes of speed,” Thirimanne said. “He doesn’t give many loose balls at all. It’s a big challenge for a left-hander. A right-hander would have two or three options. We’ll talk as a team and work hard in training. We’ll try to counterattack him and win through. It’s important to go in with a clear mind and a clear plan.”

David Miller did not break his drought of international half-centuries but could still find himself at the top of South Africa’s ODI order more often in the future as part of a new strategy which involves saving the most skilled players to face spin.”He is a very positive player. I like him up the order with new hard ball in India,” AB de Villiers, South Afirca’s captain explained. “It gives myself, Hashim [Amla] and Francois [du Plessis] an opportunity to bat against the spinners in the middle overs. They’ve got 30 overs of spin in the game and I’d like to think Hashim, myself and Faf are the best players of spin in the team so for us to bat 3, 4 and 5 gives India a feeling that they’ve got a lot of work to do to get through our batting line up which worked to the ‘t’ today.”

Morkel bowls two spells with injury

Morne Morkel’s match-winning last two spells, in which he took 3 for 29, were delivered despite an injury that could have ruled him out of action before the death overs. Morkel hurt himself in his sixth over but pushed on through the pain to earn the plaudits and the praise of his captain, AB de Villiers.
 “Morne came to me after he bowled six overs and said had got a bit of a sore leg so I might have to get his overs out of the way but he bowled so well in his return spell that I had to keep him for one at the end there,” de Villiers said. “He showed a lot of guts and determination to get through that spell. It would have been a very easy decision for him to go off and to call it a day but he pulled through for the boys and he bowled exceptionally well with a sore leg. He turned the game on it’s head.”
South Africa’s attack made particularly good use of the short ball and Morkel, with the advantage of added height, could generate added awkwardness, which he is confident he will be fit enough to deliver in the next match too.
“On these sort of wickets, with my height, if I hit the deck hard I get a lot of inconsistent bounce and that’s a strength in the subcontinent,” Morkel said. “I am a little concerned, I pulled up my quad my fourth ball of my sixth over. We have a very good medical team and I am confident I will be ready for the next game.”

India’s spin-heavy attack, which featured a trio of tweakers for the first time in the series, managed to tie South Africa down but not to shut them out. Du Plessis employed his signature uber-patience to survive the strangle and gave South Africa’s finishers a chance to end with a flourish, and it may be the way they look to play in the subcontinent in the future.”Hashim didn’t come off, I also didn’t come off but Faf came off,” de Villiers said. “There’s always one of the three that comes off in the middle overs and gives freedom for Farhaan [Behardien] and JP [Duminy] to enjoy themselves at the end.”The new plan did not entirely answer the questions that have been plaguing Miller, who has looked out of touch and unsure in both his footwork and his strokeplay, but de VIlliers was pleased with the start he had. “David [Miller] and Quinton [de Kock] played exceptionally well, there’s not a lot of turn with the new ball and both left-handers looked very comfortable against the spin on what was a slowish wicket and not easy for us to bat on. They made it look easy so I was very happy with the start today. They laid a foundation.”De Kock went on to build on that foundation to announce his return to the international circuit after months of struggle which started when he was rushed back into the squad following an ankle injury. He was expected to spend months out of the game after he rolled on his ankle last December but made a remarkable recovery to return to action in January, although he appeared out of touch.He was dropped from the South African side in Bangladesh over the winter but worked his way back with centuries for the A side in India, and in Rajkot showed how he refound his form. He batted through difficult periods of heat – in the literal and figurative sense (it was 37 degrees and India’s spinners were making life tough) – to score his first century this year.”I think he answered a lot of questions,” de Villiers said. “He is a unique player, he has an immense amount of talent and I love to have him in the side. It’s very nice to have him back doing his thing with the bat and with the gloves. I thought he played extremely well, against the spin, against the seam, paced his innings well, played a mature knock. A lot of opening batsmen on this kind of wicket would have thought to get too many boundaries upfront. He paced his innings well, he got his ones with the odd boundary in between. Amazing batting.”South Africa are back in the lead and de Villiers hopes they can go for the kill at the earliest opportunity. “We sit here 2-1 up against India and it’s a great position to be in,” he said. “We have a wonderful opportunity to win a series. We won’t touch the money yet but we’ve got a good chance. We have to win one out of the last two, of course we’d love to win both.”

ScorecardFile Photo – Sudip Chatterjee struck 16 fours for his 145•PTI

Sudip Chatterjee’s hundred rescued Bengal from what seemed set to be an extension of their previous season, against Karnataka in Bangalore. Bengal were reduced to 41 for 4 mainly by Vinay Kumar’s new-ball exploits, before Chatterjee and Wriddhiman Saha pulled them out of the pits with a stand of 173 runs for the fifth wicket. Saha fell ten runs short of a hundred in the last over before tea and Chatterjee was dismissed for 145, his third 50-plus score in four first-class matches, while Vinay ended the day with 3 for 80.Vinay opted to bowl and removed the Bengal top order all by himself. He didn’t swing the ball much in his first two overs, but once he did, he pitched it in the corridor to take the outside edges of openers Abhishek Das and debutant Naved Ahmed. There was more drama in the third dismissal when Vinay threw the ball back in his follow through to hit Shreevats Goswami’s bat and the ball deflected onto the stumps. Goswami had grounded his bat in time but when the ball hit the stumps, his bat was in the air and so were Bengal’s fortunes. Manoj Tiwary came out at 26 for 3 and struck an authoritative four off the back foot, but he gave his wicket away by pulling a short ball from well outside off, for a top-edge to square leg and Bengal were four down in just over an hour.That brought together Chatterjee and Saha in the 14th over. Chatterjee was more watchful out of the two and didn’t go for any extravagant shots. Saha, though, had a nervy start. He edged the ball a couple of times early on, but his use of soft hands made sure the ball didn’t carry to the slips. He switched gears as soon as legspinner Shreyas Gopal came on in the 20th over by greeting him with a six over long-off and a beautiful cover drive the next ball. Saha struck two fours in an over against Vinay too, not long before lunch, and lofted left-arm spinner J Suchith over mid-off early into the second session to earn some confidence.Bengal were 104 for 4 at lunch and the two batsmen, now at ease, struck the occasional boundary and soon brought up their 100-run stand with the ball old and the sun blazing down on the pitch. Vinay tried several bowlers in quick succession, unleashed his own reverse-swing, placed unorthodox fielders but wickets eluded Karnataka.Saha targeted the off side more, while Chatterjee found success off his pads as both batsmen attacked the spinners. Just when it looked like the second session would go completely in Bengal’s favour, Gopal turned one into Saha and Robin Uthappa, who was keeping instead of CM Gautam, took a sharp catch down leg.Chatterjee, on 99 at tea, didn’t take too long to move into three figures for the second time in this format and found an able partner in Laxmi Shukla to take the score past 250. By now Chatterjee had read the bounce well; he played the ball late, ducked under the bouncers, cut Vinay off the back foot for fours and was headed towards a big score. That his first first-class hundred was a score of 192 speaks of his patience and grit. Shukla was striking boundaries at will, including a six down the ground, and along with Chatterjee brought up the fifty stand in ten overs, but Karnataka, like they usually do once they make inroads, continued to pick wickets.Shukla chased one outside off with a big drive that flew to Manish Pandey at first slip in no time and Pragyan Ojha’s resistance of 35 balls, that included several short deliveries, ended as soon as Vinay took the second new ball. The big wicket came when Chatterjee threw his bat like Shukla and was also caught at first slip, off HS Sharath. At 295 for 8, Bengal were helped past 300 when No. 9 Veer Pratap Singh struck three firm drives for four before lobbing one off the back foot to mid-off which was Sharath’s third wicket and marked the end of the day.

ScorecardTravis Dean scored twin centuries in his first match (pictured) and has now added 84 in his next innings•Getty Images

Victoria opener Travis Dean continued the remarkable start to his first-class career by adding 84 in his third innings to the twin centuries he scored in his first two. Dean looked set for a third consecutive hundred when he was finally dismissed for the first time in his first-class career, leaving him with an average of 347.Dean was caught behind off Andrew Tye late on the first day of Victoria’s match against Western Australia at the MCG, one of three wickets for Tye, who was the best of Western Australia bowlers. However, the Warriors still had plenty of work ahead of them in the match after the Bushrangers went to stumps at 4 for 293, with Aaron Finch on 43 and Glenn Maxwell on 46.The day began with drama for Victoria, whose captain Matthew Wade suffered a broken collarbone while batting in the nets before play. The match referee allowed Victoria to replace Wade in the XI with debutant wicketkeeper Aaron Ayre, and Peter Siddle was named Victoria’s stand-in captain, although he had only just rejoined the team after flying home from the Test squad in Perth.Rob Quiney was the first wicket to fall when he pulled Tye to square leg for 44, but Marcus Stoinis (58) provided good support for Dean in a 115-run partnership. Peter Handscomb made 12 before he was caught behind off the bowling of David Moody.