Muralitharan Retires, Lasith Malinga Injured: Is Sri Lanka in trouble for 2nd Test match against India?
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 will be without their match winning duo – the men responsible for Sri Lanka’s 10 wicket win over India in the 1st test, Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga, when they will face India during the 2nd test match of a three-match series at SSC, Colombo. The Sri Lankan side has decided to rest their pace bowler Lasith Malinga who is not fully fit as he suffered a knee injury. Muralitharan has taken retirement from the longer version of the game after achieving an 800 wickets haul in the 1st test match of the series played at Galle International Stadium, Sri Lanka.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772 in the first innings), and was truly phenomenal in the second innings where his 3rd 5 wickets haul was more than enough to destroy the Indian side, who were trying to score more runs after a follow on. Malinga has by now taken 98 test and 99 ODI wickets, and he also has a unique record to his name where he took four wickets in four successive balls against South Africa to become the first bowler to achieve this feat.
Muttiah Muralitharan has taken retirement after bowling a wonderful spell during his last test match. He took 8 wickets in the match to complete his 800 wickets haul. He took 5 wickets in the first innings that includes the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028. In his second innings, he bowled a long spell of almost 45 overs to take 3 wickets, and his last wicket of Pragyan Ojha earned him the honour of having gotten 800 wickets in test cricket. This duo, who has taken 15 out of the 20 Indian wickets in Galle, will surely be missed in the coming test match at SSC Colombo, to be played from 26 to 30th July, 2010.
The two players who replaced these two bowlers are http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in a home series against the neighbours at the same ground in 2008. He became the first Sri Lankan debutant to take 8 wickets. During the three test match series against India, he took 26 wickets and became the first debutant to reach this mark in the three test match series. He will be contesting his place with the other off spinner in the squad, Suraj Randiv, yet waiting for a Sri Lankan test cap. Ajantha Mendis played in a tour match for Presidential XI and has taken 6 wickets for 67 runs. He will most probably be accompanied by Rangana Herath in a spin bowling department.
Fernando has played 33 test matches and taken 88 wickets with an average of 34.90. He is a right arm medium fast bowler who can surely deceive the opponents’ batsmen by his slower pace deliveries as well as reverse swings that he rarely bowls. If selected, he can surely take wickets for his side, and sometimes his spells have won matches for the Lankan side.
Mahela Jayawardene will be assisting Kumar Sangakkara in captaincy, as the position was left vacant after Murali’s retirement from Test cricket. Mahela is an experienced cricketer and has led his side for a long amount of time; he was the captain of the side that played the final against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the 2007 WC. He stepped down from captaincy after accepting the responsibility of defeat against India in early 2009 to give his successor Kumar Sangakkara enough time to settle down as a captain ahead of the 2011 World Cup to be played in the subcontinent.
Aravinda de Silva, the chairman of the selection committee, announced the 16 man squad for the second test match. The squad includes:
Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavitana, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Prasanna-Jayawardene-c82537, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Chanaka Welegedara, Suraj Randiv, Rangana Herath, Thilina Kandamby, Dammika Prasad, Lahiru Thirimanne, and Nuwan Pradeep.
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