On a day when the Sri Lankans scored over 300 runs losing just two wickets, questions are being raised about the seemingly placid pitch at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground.
At the end of Day One, Sri Lanka, after winning the toss and electing to bat, were 312 for two with captain Kumar Sangakkara (130) and Mahela Jayawardene (13) on crease. Opener Paranavitana (100) had earlier scored his second ton.
Making room for glorious uncertainties of this game, one can nevertheless say that there was nothing in the pitch on Day 1 to even remotely interest the bowlers. Not that the Indian bowling attack, led by Harbhajan Singh, had a formidable appearance about them though.
SSC had always been a happy hunting ground for the Sri Lankans and especially one Mahela Jayawardene, who has amassed 2467 runs on this ground. Sangakkara had compiled 1710 before this Test.
But despite being such a batting-friendly pitch, the fact that Sri Lanka have won a number of Tests at this venue owns largely to retired off-spinning great Muttiah Muralitharan. The offie has scalped 166 wickets, bowling 1472.5 overs.
Sri Lankan fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa, who has played 30 Tests and 90 one-day Internationals, said it is not easy to bowl in the sub-continental batting tracks.
“Here the batsmen dominate. A bowler who bowls with line and length alone cannot be successful in Sri Lanka. You need to have that X-factor or be extraordinary like Malinga or Murali to take wickets on these tracks. These guys don’t rely on pitches,” he said.
Abhimanyu Mithun and Ishant Sharma bowled back of the length the entire day and got spanked roundly, especially by Sangakkara. There was no movement off the pitch or in the air for the seamers. Harbhajan got turn but the batsmen had little trouble in negotiating him. The ball was nicely coming on to the bat.
“Sometimes it is frustrating for a bowler to bowl on these wickets. You have to keep bowling your heart out but you may find that still the batsman is dominating you. There is nothing for the bowler and in the end he is blamed for not taking wickets. The wickets should be 50-50 so that there is a fair contest. Like in Australia, England and South Africa you have something for the bowlers and for the batsman too,” Zoysa added.
The 32-year-old, who has been brought up on this ground, said it is a graveyard for the bowlers.
“Bowlers can’t be successful over here. Muralitharan has won us most of the matches over here. I guess the Indian bowlers need to put an extraordinary display to be on the top,” he added.
Jayananda Warnaweera, curator of the Galle International Cricket Stadium, severely criticised the SSC wicket. “You can’t have these kind of tracks where only batsmen dominate. This is not good for Test cricket. If you want to save Test cricket you need to have a sporting track. I always try to have a sporting track which supports all of them,” said the former Test cricketer.
