Sanath can play a vital role -Asantha

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Chairman National Selection Committee Ashantha de Mel believes that veteran Sanath Jayasuriya could still play a vital role in the Sri Lankan team after he was stripped from the regular opening spot for the forthcoming series in India.

Sri Lanka will play five one day internationals and a couple of Twenty20 games after the conclusion of the three match Test series which begins on November 16 in Ahemedabad.

De Mel a former Sri Lanka opening bowler stated that Jayasuriya will bat in the middle order in the one day series which begins on December 15 in Rajkot with Tillekeratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga as the regular opening combination.

The Selection Committee Chairman noted that this is only an experiment with the 2011 World Cup in mind and Jayasuriya could return back to his normal position depending on his present form.

De Mel stressed the importance of Jayasuriya’s batting as he has always performed well in the flat sub continent wickets. The dashing left hander in fact is the most successful batsman among the present line up having accumulated a total of 511 runs in 22 outings in India with a strike rate of exactly one hundred runs.

De Mel said that Jayasuriya will be utilized as a spin option as they intend in facing the Indians with six batsmen and five specialized bowlers. De Mel observed that it is always good to have an extra bowler in the side to balance the team because there will be one person who will have an off day on the field occasionally.

He highlighted Wednesday’s second one day international in particular where Australia despite fielding five specialized bowlers conceded over 350 runs against India.

Even then De Mel lamented that Jayasuriya’s performance in the recent ICC Champions Trophy tournament in South Africa was below par although he showed promise in the home Tri Series that also involved New Zealand.

Jayasuriya a veteran of 441 one day internationals scored his last century against India at Dambulla in January 2009 and fell two runs short of repeating that effort at the R. Premadasa Stadium in September 2009.

De Mel further noted that earlier Jayasuriya had the potential of winning a match for his team with his explosive batting at least once in every three outings having burst into the international scene against Australia in the 1989 series.

In fact Jayasuriya started his career as a solid middle order batsman and a genuine spinner who was able to pick up vital wickets and brake dangerous partnerships. He was promoted to open the batting during the tour of India in 1993 and went on to add a new dimension into the game during the 1996 World Cup in the sub continent.

De Mel also stated that they decided to include two new players to the Twenty20 squad big hitting Chinthaka Jayasinghe and Kaushalya Weeraratne who have being highly successful in the domestic scene in the recent past.

He observed that the main reason for their entry is to strengthen the low batting order of the team in addition to their bowling skills. He highlighted the performances of Harbajan Singh and Praveen Kumar who were able to bring their team closer towards their target with their determined batting effort against Australia in the first one day international.

De Mel said that Sri Lanka’s ability to hit sixes during the last few overs of the game have declined to a great extent in the recent past and hope that the new players like Jayasinghe, Weeraratne and Pushpakumara will be able to transform the Twenty20 side into a formidable combination.