Lankans will experiment

Sri Lanka will try a few experiments when they make a full tour of India starting later next week. As I mentioned before, the six-week tour of India, which includes three Tests, two Twenty20 Internationals and five One Day Internationals, will always be a challenge for the Lankan team which will be tested fully in every aspect of the game.

In the circumstances, Sri Lanka will have to come out with fresh strategies and have many options with them. It will be a gigantic task for Kumar Sangakkara and his men as the Indians will be unstoppable in their home conditions. The Indian batsmen are set to make merry on their subcontinent wickets and much will depend on how quickly Sri Lanka's slow bowlers adjust to conditions there.

Spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan could always be dangerous but there should be another slow bowler for support to apply pressure. True that Ajantha Mendis made it to the big league with a bang and, early few series with the Sri Lanka national team was incredible.

But as what generally happen to such sensational entrants to big time cricket, Mendis is now facing a hard time. It seems that most of the top batsmen in the world have made their own careful studies and research on Mendis. Hence, he could no longer have big harvests with his usual bowling. Mendis will now have to keep inventing and developing new deliveries so that he could keep opposing batsmen in suspense.

This is exactly what Muralitharan has been doing. From time to time, Muralitharan has been introducing mystery balls and that has been the secret behind the success story of the world record holder for most number of Test and ODI wickets. Similarly, if Mendis too could be 'armed' with a totally new mystery delivery, then he could get back to his usual business of capturing wickets at regular intervals.

Evergreen Sanath Jayasuriya could play a greater role as a spin bowler on Indian wickets which generally favour slow bowlers. Interestingly, the national selection committee, headed by Ashantha de Mel, has picked Jayasuriya for the ODI series against India as an all-rounder. Whatever is said and done, Jayasuriya is a match winner and has got some more cricket left in his distinguished career.

There are only a handful of cricketers in the world of Jayasuriya's calibre. True that no one is indispensable in this world but it is not an easy task to find an equally good replacement for the dashing left-hand batsman. It will not be a bad idea to use Jayasuriya low down in the batting order, if the selectors opt to open batting with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga.

We understand that the selectors have spoken to Jayasuriya and enlightened the former captain on his new role in the Sri Lanka ODI team. The Matara Mauler still looks fit but what matters is consistency. Apparently the selectors have cautioned Jayasuriya to play more match winning roles as in the past. Undoubtedly Jayasuriya is a born fighter and will definitely bounce back to justify his place. Be on the lookout for his willow will soon start talking once more, and silence those few scribes who tried to dump him four years ago.

On the other hand, Jayasuriya could play an equally good role as a bowler. Especially his left-arm spin could form the ideal combination with Muralitharan's vicious off breaks. Jayasuriya's bowling skills came to Sri Lanka's rescue in their recent Champions trophy game against New Zealand at which the veteran all-rounder captured 3 for 30 in ten overs. He could well play similar roles in India to become a match winner once more.

Ground fielding will be a crucial and decisive factor in the series against India. Understanding this aspect well in advance, Sri Lanka squad have paid special emphasis on this vital aspect. It was due to untidy fielding that Sri Lanka was eliminated after the first round of the Champions trophy. They got off to a dream start beating the hosts South Africa in the 'curtain raiser' game but failed to maintain that rhythm.

In order to address the issue, they have obtained the services of former Olympian Gavin Fingleson, who has fine tuned Sri Lanka team's fielding. During the past couple of weeks, the Lankan cricketers have really worked hard onto sharpen their fielding with Fingleson showing the lads a lot of drills and how they could go that extra mile with superior ground fielding.

It is good to have Stuart Law as the assistant coach. He is an experienced campaigner who could play a good supportive role to national head coach Trevor Bayliss during the forthcoming tour of India.

Pressure will be on the two uncapped players - Thilina Kandamby and Kaushal Silva but they are talented cricketers who could make the best use of the opportunity they have got in the big time cricket. Kandamby has been shaping well and had superb form as a ODI cricketer. Since making his ODI debut last year, left-hand middle-order bat Kandamby has maintained an attractive average of over 44 with five half centuries.

During their tour of India, Sri Lanka will be figuring in a historic Test in Mumbai after nearly four decades. Brabourne Stadium in the Bollywood City will host a Test for the first time since 1973 when Sri Lanka take on India in the third and final Test from December 2 to 6. The most exciting and interesting part will come after the three-Test series as the two teams will figure in two Twenty20 internationals and five ODIs.