Spin-friendly pitches coming too heavy for Sri Lanka? Check details

Sri Lanka suffered a disappointing defeat to Australia in the two-match Test series, losing 2-0 and ending their World Test Championship (WTC) cycle on a low note. In the second Test at Galle, Australia wrapped up the match on the fourth day, winning by nine wickets. This victory capped off a dominant series performance by the Aussies. Despite a few commendable individual performances from Sri Lankan players, the team as a whole struggled throughout the series, with Australia asserting their superiority. Sri Lanka has been under heavy criticism lately, and following the loss, questions were raised about their performance and tactics. One such question was directed at Sri Lanka's skipper, Dhananjaya de Silva, regarding the team's preference for spin-friendly pitches at home.

The inquiry focused on whether Sri Lanka should reconsider playing on such tracks, given their recent struggles. De Silva responded clearly, acknowledging the need for the team to rethink their approach to pitch conditions. While spin-friendly pitches have traditionally favored Sri Lanka, de Silva admitted that they might need to adapt their strategies, especially after the loss to Australia. His response indicated a recognition that change could be necessary for the team to improve in future series and tournaments.

“There's definitely a question of whether [we] are playing spin very well as batters, we'll have to rethink that. If you looked at how they played, they scored a lot of runs square [of the wicket] and understood that it's hard to defend on these pitches. We couldn't apply that ourselves with the pressure that they put on us. We have to think about whether we keep playing on pitches like this, or on pitches better suited to us,” stated Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva in a recent interview. 

“As a batter, I do like playing in the other venues because my records there are better, if you take our batting averages, they're lower than those of batters in other countries, and you can see why that is - because we bat in spin-friendly conditions, it's hard to have an outstanding record on these pitches. But bowlers have to be very skillful to get wickets on good tracks too. Still, I think it's worth thinking about,” he added. 

In the Australia vs Sri Lanka Test series, Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis were the only consistent batters, providing some valuable contributions for their team. Both players were able to offer resistance in an otherwise challenging series for Sri Lanka, with their performances standing out amid the team's overall struggles.

On the bowling side, Prabhat Jayasuriya finished as the highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka, but his average of 40.44 across the three innings he bowled showed that he couldn’t provide the breakthrough performance the team needed. Despite his tally of wickets, the Sri Lankan bowling attack, in general, struggled to put consistent pressure on the Australian batters. Overall, while there were some bright spots from a few individuals, Sri Lanka's collective performance in both batting and bowling fell short in the series against Australia.