SL vs Ban: Jayawickrama does the simple things well, says Karunaratne
May 03, 2021
Pallekele [Sri Lanka], May 3 : Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne has been impressed by the accuracy of spinner Praveen Jayawickrama in the second Test against Bangladesh.
Ramesh Mendis and Jayawickrama made light work of Bangladesh's middle and lower-order as Sri Lanka won the second Test and the series at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
Debutant Jayawickrama was adjudged as the player of the match for his eleven wickets in the second Test. Karunaratne praised the spinner for doing the simple things in the most delicate manner.
"Praveen does the simple things well. He pitches the ball in the right spot. That's something we saw from Rangana Herath as well. He makes the batsman play, and gives the ball a chance to do something," ESPNcricinfo quoted Karunaratne as saying.
"When you play at this level, you have to have that consistency in line and length. He did his job 100% and played like a bowler who had more than his 10 first-class matches. It's a great sign for the future of our Test cricket," he added.
Playing his first game in the longest format of the game, Jayawickrama bagged six wickets and then scalped a five-for in the second innings to help Sri Lanka seal a series win.
Karunaratne said Jayawickrama didn't try to do many things in his first game and absorbed the pressure well.
"The seniors just gave both bowlers confidence. Some players can panic at times when they come into the Test arena, because they try a lot of things. What we tried to tell them was to play as if they would a regular first-class game, and to handle the pressure that way. Praveen absorbed pressure really well," said Karunaratne.
During the second Test, Karunaratne became the 10th Lankan batsman to score 5,000 runs in the longest format of the game. He is also the fourth fastest Sri Lanka cricketer to reach 5,000 Test runs in terms of matches played.
Karunaratne scored his 5,000th run in his 72nd Test and 138th innings. Former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara is still the highest run-scorer for the country with 12,400 Test runs under his belt.
