{"id":15932,"date":"2022-07-23T03:32:43","date_gmt":"2022-07-23T03:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/?p=15932"},"modified":"2022-07-23T03:32:46","modified_gmt":"2022-07-23T03:32:46","slug":"pak-vs-sl-sri-lanka-seek-galle-turner-to-pay-back-shaheen-less-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/?p=15932&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Pak vs SL: Sri Lanka seek Galle turner to pay back Shaheen-less Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mishaal Arshad C.M Underground News<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Shaheen&#8217;s absence due to knee injury will hurt Pakistan.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana ruled out due to finger injury.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Batter Pathum Nissanka returns to team after he contracted COVID.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-cnvs-separator-id-1658546812239\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GALLE: Dimuth Karunaratne&#8217;s Sri Lanka will look to bounce back in the second Test starting Sunday against an upbeat Pakistan team that is fresh off a morale-boosting win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the tourists have been hit by an injury to pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi, who played a key part in the team&#8217;s four-wicket victory on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sri Lanka have witnessed contrasting results at the Galle International Stadium in the past three weeks and now head into their sixth straight Test at the venue since November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the first of their two Tests against Australia at the ground earlier this month, the hosts first lost inside three days on a vicious turner, then bounced back to beat the tourists on a radically different wicket to end the series level at 1-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the first Test against Pakistan, the pitch was once again entirely different, with little help for the spinners, even on the final two days, when Asian tracks usually turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;There was a big difference in the wicket we played against Australia and here,&#8221; Sri Lanka vice-captain Dhananjaya de Silva said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Normally on a Galle pitch, the fourth and fifth days don&#8217;t help the batters.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya has stood out since his debut in the second Australia Test, where he got a match haul of 12 wickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He then bamboozled Pakistan with a total of nine wickets in the opening Test of this series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But de Silva, an all-rounder who bowls off-spin, said Jayasuriya got little support from the other end against Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Only Prabath bowled a consistent line and length and we leaked runs from the other two spinners,&#8221; said de Silva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It is difficult to keep a tight field when you are leaking runs from one side.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana has been ruled out due to a finger injury and de Silva may be expected to play a bigger role with the ball alongside Ramesh Mendis and Jayasuriya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Batter Pathum Nissanka returns to the team after he contracted COVID in the middle of the second Australia Test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The venue was shifted from Colombo to Galle due to the political unrest in Sri Lanka, and it is the hosts&#8217; final Test of the season, with their next red-ball series a tour to New Zealand in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"remain-positive\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8216;Remain positive&#8217;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan skipper Babar Azam believes Jayasuriya remains Sri Lanka&#8217;s &#8220;main weapon&#8221; but was confident in his batters ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We will stick to our strengths and as batters remain positive,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The visitors rode on opener Abdullah Shafique&#8217;s unbeaten 160 to chase down a record 342 at the venue on a tense fifth day. The win gave them a 1-0 series lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shafique is in elite company after the first six matches of his Test career, with 720 runs from 11 innings, behind only India&#8217;s Sunil Gavaskar (912 runs from 12 innings), Australian great Don Bradman (862 from 12), and West Indies&#8217; George Headley (730 from 12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shaheen&#8217;s absence due to a knee injury will hurt Pakistan, who rely on their quicks to get early wickets even on turning subcontinent pitches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Pakistan has always produced fast bowlers and they have also won matches on flat tracks,&#8221; said Azam, who went with three quicks, including Hasan Ali and Naseem Shah, in the first match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;But let&#8217;s see, we will sit and discuss before the next match what combinations to play.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan could make a few changes to their team, including bringing in left-arm orthodox bowler Nauman Ali to bolster their spin attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Crucial World Test Championship points will be up for grabs for both teams, with Pakistan third and Sri Lanka sixth in the current standings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mishaal Arshad C.M Underground News Shaheen&#8217;s absence due to knee injury will hurt Pakistan. Mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_appearance_grid":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,76,71,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","category-important-news","category-latest-news","category-sports","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15939,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15932\/revisions\/15939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/undergroundnews.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}