Sri Lanka captain urges SLC to organise more Test matches

Sri Lanka Test Captain Dhananjaya de Silva urged Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to organise more Test matches for the country, believing that it would help the hosts continue their good processes in the longer version of the game.

Sri Lanka have played four Test matches in 2025, and will not play any more Tests for the rest of the year. They completed their last Test of the year on a winning note by beating Bangladesh by an innings and 78 runs to clinch the two-match Test series 1-0. It sees them start the 2025-2027 cycle of the ICC World Test Championship on a perfect note.

“We only have domestic matches. Right now there’s a one-day tournament, and after that there will be a three-day tournament. There’s also the National Super League. That’s how we’ll have to keep our form. Unfortunately, there are no international Tests,” De Silva said.

“We’ve made requests to the SLC, to play more Tests. I think they are talking about it with other teams. Even if we can play three or four extra Tests, we’ll be able to continue the good things we’re doing.”

Kusal Mendis scored a crucial and quickfire 84 at No. 7 and de Silva was pleased with his ‘keeper-batter for adding the required depth for the batting order.

“Kusal Mendis batting at No. 7 is very important. He’s one of the best batters in Sri Lanka, and him being there also means he can play a role against the second new ball. In the last few series he’s been among the runs. If he keeps doing that the lower order will get better,” said de Silva.
The Sri Lankan skipper that the bowlers have worked on squeezing the flow of runs to pile on the pressure against their opposition. Sri Lanka bowled 18 maidens among 123.5 overs bowled across both innings in the second Test.

“Whenever we come into a Test series we have some KPIs. One of the things we analyzed this time was that our maiden percentage needed to be higher. So that’s what we planned to do. We have to keep some pressure on the opposition in Tests, in order to get some wickets at the other end. I think our bowlers did that very well.”

Dhananjaya added that he did not lose his sleep despite Prabath Jayasuriya’s ordinary outings in the first three bowling innings across both Tests. The left-arm spinner had picked only one wicket until he grabbed a five-fer (5-56) to help the hosts clinch victory.

“I didn’t tell him anything special. You have to have self belief in cricket. And he has shown us in the past how good a bowler he is, and he has achieved a lot for the country. He was top ten in the world too. He had a bit of a problem with his rhythm, and he worked hard even while this match was going. I think we saw the results of that effort in this second innings,” said de Silva.

Meanwhile, in the opposition camp, there was a feeling of desolation. Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto admitted that they fell flat in the Colombo Test because of their abject batting failures on a decent pitch.

“Very disappointing. The way we played in Galle was outstanding, but in this Test it was disappointing, especially with our batting in the first innings. That’s why we lost,” said Shanto. “Confidence-wise we were in a good place, but it was a new wicket, new conditions. Four or five batters got to 30-40 and got out, and in Test cricket it’s hard for the next batter to play a long innings. That’s something we need to improve.”

Najmul also pointed to Bangladesh’s first innings bowling as another reason for the heavy loss.

“We didn’t start well with the ball. We conceded too many runs early - four, five, six an over. When a batter gets that sort of momentum, it’s difficult for the spinners to maintain control later. Because we didn’t bowl tightly at the start, they batted very freely. If we’d given away fewer runs - even if we didn’t get wickets - maybe we could have hoped for a better outcome. You saw we took eight wickets in a short span later.

“A comeback is only possible when the margin is close. If you fall behind by 200-300 runs, it’s very hard to come back. Whether it’s the bowling unit or the batting unit - if the opposition gets a 50-100 run lead, it’s still possible to claw back, same with the bowling. But if you fall too far behind early, especially in the first innings, it’s really tough to recover,” he concluded.

Source: Cricbuzz

- Agencies