Series win gives Lankans reason to smile back home

Cricket is, without any doubt, the most popular sport in Sri Lanka but right now there shouldn't be many people in the island nation worried about the result of the Test series between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. They are facing a more serious problem, their worst-ever financial and political crisis since their independence in 1948 and all the sectors in the country have almost fallen apart. 

Since Sri Lanka's arrival in Bangladesh, questions regarding Sri Lanka's ongoing situation have been asked frequently in press conferences. 

"Everyone knows what's happening. We're here to play cricket and that's the only thing we are concerned about. Only thing we can do is to bring a good result for the people there," said Dimuth Karunaratne, the Sri Lanka skipper ahead of the first Test. 

Although the first Test in Chattogram ended in a draw, the visitors were outstanding in the second Test and defeated the home side by a massive margin of ten wickets. After the win, Sri Lanka's wicketkeeper-batter echoed his captain's words and stated that the win would be a happy occasion for people back home. 

"We came here to play cricket. We left those things behind, and came to win the series," said Dickwella. "So it will be a good plus point for Sri Lanka as we are going through a hard time back home."

This was Sri Lanka's third win in six matches in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) and they are currently fourth in the points table with a PCT of 58.33%. 

Sri Lanka's pace-bowling duo of Asitha Fernando and Kasun Rajitha were superb throughout the series with 13 and 12 wickets respectively. There were the top two wicket-takers of the series and showed excellent skills on pitches that were not too conducive for fast bowling. 

"They are the best bowlers in Sri Lanka, that's why they are on tour. All the fast bowlers have done their homework, and done their job whenever they were called up," Dickwella said.

As Dickwella said, the Sri Lanka pacers did their homework to perfection. The dismissal of Mushfiqur Rahim by Kasun Rajitha in the morning session of day five involved a superb set-up. Mushfiqur has had his fair share of problems against in-swing in the past and Rajitha set him up for an incoming delivery after bowling a few outswingers. 

And they did their homework against Shakib too, the top-scorer for Bangladesh in the second innings. Shakib got out off a short ball in the first Test and Sri Lanka employed a similar tactic in the second Test as well. Shakib stitched an excellent partnership with Litton Das but the latter's wicket opened the floodgates. 

"We had a calm dressing room. We knew we were just one wicket away from the tail-enders. We kept our nerves. I think Asitha came up with a brilliant catch. It was the turning point," Dickwella mentioned. 

Bangladesh pace bowling coach Allan Donald stressed on sticking to the basics and not trying to bowl glory balls on these surfaces and that's exactly what Sri Lanka pacers did. Rajitha and Asitha took 16 out of 20 Bangladesh wickets in the match as they kept things simple and bowled wicket to wicket.

"In the first innings, there was something for the seamers. Bit of movement and swing. We took five early wickets but we couldn't quite take the other five wickets. In the second innings, it was going up and down. Seam movement was there. We stuck to our basic line and length. We wanted to bowl a stump line in the second innings."

A lot of credit goes to Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal for that 199-run stand that helped the visitors take a crucial 141-run lead. Dickwella mentioned that the way the duo batted took the pressure off the younger players.

"With their experience, Angelo [Mathews] and [Dinesh] Chandimal are greedy for their runs. They knew this is the best opportunity to go for big scores. They did a great job. They are taking the pressure off the youngsters. They are doing their job properly," he said.