Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu sought to put pressure on India ahead of the crucial second cricket Test, saying the grassy track at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground will suit his pace bowlers.
| |||||||||||
"This wicket is different from that of Chennai. The Chennai wicket was prepared for a one-day game against South Africa, which was not played. But this wicket has some grass in the middle and hopefully it will help the bowlers," Atapattu said in New Delhi on Friday.
The Lankan captain expressed happiness over the fact that their pace spearhead Vaas is in good form.
"It's good for the team. Vaas bowling well is good news for us and we hope he continues to do so," he said.
Atapattu declined to reveal anything on the final XI but expressed his happiness over the prospect of the wicket helping the bowlers.
"The final XI will depend on how the wicket looks in the morning," he said.
Atapattu played down the promotion of Kumara Sangakkara to the opening slot in the first Test in Chennai indicating that the wicketkeeper-batsman might go back to his usual position of number three.
"Sangakkara is our usual No 3 batsman. It's just that I was not not available for the first hour and he came in to open in the first Test. It's as simple as that," Atapattu said.
Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody stressed the need of bouncing back in the Test series after their debacle in the one-day series against the hosts recently.
"After losing the one-day series 6-1, it is important to bounce back. Any side would like to do that. It's nice that we started off well in Chennai and we need to improve upon that," Moody said.
Earlier, the islanders concentrated on a lot of batting practice as around 20 local pacers bowled ceaselessly at the batters, while their own speedsters wilfully bent their backs and looked in good rhythm.
The second-highest wicket taker in Test cricket and star off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan looked in ominous form as he bowled at a single stump for nearly half-an-hour. The tweaker tested his repertorie of varied deliveries with perfection while sticking to a consistent length.
The whole team, unlike Thursday, did not spent much time on fielding practices and stayed focussed on batting and bowling on the eve of the second Test.
More from rediff