Vishwa Fernando likely to named as replacement for Nuwan Pradeep

Sri Lanka beat Australia in the first Test match but that doesn’t end the worries for the Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews as their premier pace bowler Nuwan Pradeep is likely to be ruled out of the second Test starting on Thursday due to injury.

Mathews feels that the workload is a reason for the injury and if Pradeep fails to appear, Vishwa Fernando is likely to make his Test debut. “Workload plays a huge role in their injuries,” Mathews pointed out. “If you talk to physio and trainer, they will say with the amount of cricket we play, workload management is important. We had to go with the same lot of fast bowlers for every game in England, and that’s why, probably, they got injured.”

“Now, we’re in the same situation as in the last match. We’re waiting till tomorrow to get an opinion from the physio and trainer on Pradeep. If he doesn’t play, we have Vishwa Fernando,” he added.

However, Sri Lanka will still be confident about their attack as spinners were the key in the first Test match as they bagged 18 of the 20 Australian wickets. Rangana Herath is the one who claimed 9 out of those 18.

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“You can’t write the Australians off against Herath,” he said. “They came up with a different strategy in the second innings, like using the crease a lot, and sweeping him a little bit. We have got to be cautious. They didn’t get runs, but they are a very attacking top order and the guys who didn’t get runs in Pallekele, we have to be cautious of. It’s a tough place to play spin here. It will turn more than in Pallekele I reckon, but we still need to bowl in the right areas to take wickets.”

When asked about the openers as they had two different opening pair in the two innings of the first Test Mathews said, “We had a chat with the selectors about the openers, and we just want to try and give the boys another opportunity,”

“We want to keep the winning combination going. If at all we need any changes, we will do that, but as of now, we’re not thinking of any changes in the top order,” he concluded.

Also Watch: Nuwan Pradeep gets out hit wicket after falling on the stumps