Galle: The economic crisis in Sri Lanka has brought the country to a standstill. There is a shortage of essential commodities like fuel, medicine and food. The President has resigned.
Despite all the difficulties, cricket continues uninterrupted.
The first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka gets underway in Galle on Saturday.
Last weekend, as Australia played the second Test in Galle, protesters outside the stadium called for the removal of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. An even bigger protest took place in the capital Colombo, less than a kilometer from the hotel where the Pakistan team was staying.
No protesters or political parties objected to cricket being played when the country was burning. Everyone knows that cricket is a must for a country with severe shortage of foreign exchange. The Australian tour gave Sri Lanka Cricket an estimated $2 million. The tourism industry also benefited, with hundreds of Australian fans flocking to matches that ended in a 1–1 draw.
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While the Pakistan series will not generate that much revenue, it needs to continue due to several reasons. Sri Lanka is set to host the Asia Cup later next month and the cricket board and government are doing their best to ensure that the tournament remains on the island without shifting to the United Arab Emirates.
Like the Australian series, the Asia Cup will see SLC prosper by several million dollars and more tourists are expected to travel to watch one of the best rivalries in the sport: India vs Pakistan.
Pakistan’s security details warned the team to cancel its training session in Colombo earlier this week because of unrest in the capital. The second Test is set to be shifted from Colombo to Galle next week.
The situation was different when we landed but the Sri Lankan board and security took care of us and it was helpful,” Pakistan captain Babar Azam told reporters. We didn’t think anything could hurt us. We had a good warm-up match in Colombo and we are ready for the series.
Sri Lanka won the second Test against Australia by an innings and 39 runs, having lost the first game by 10 wickets. Spin played a big part in that win earlier this week and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne was expecting a tough fight against Pakistan.
“They are a different team. They are good against spin. They have done well here in the past tours,” Karunaratne said.
These are two equally balanced teams with Pakistan ranked sixth in the ICC Test rankings and Sri Lanka one place below.
Sri Lanka will be without opener Pathum Nisanka after testing positive for COVID-19; Oshada is expected to be replaced by Fernando. Dhananjaya de Silva also returned in the second Test against Australia after missing out due to COVID. He is expected to replace Kamindu Mendis, who scored a fifty on debut.
Leg-spinner Yasir Shah is likely to make a comeback in the first Test for Pakistan. The 36-year-old hasn’t played international cricket in over a year due to injuries. When Pakistan last toured here in 2015, he would be quite a handful in these conditions, taking 24 wickets in three Test series.
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Pakistan: Babar Azam (Captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Abdullah Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed , Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood and Yasir Shah
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (captain), Oshada Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella, Dinesh Chandimal, Ramesh Mendis, Mahesh Thekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Jayasuriya, Dunith. Velez and Jeffrey Vandersay
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