5 promising signs for Sri Lanka despite a miserable series against India

#4 Dependence on Rangana Herath and Lasith Malinga has come down

Lasith Malinga

It’s a no-brainer that Rangana Herath and Lasith Malinga are what Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas were for Sri Lanka when they were playing. Such is the dependence on Herath in tests and Malinga in ODIs and T20s to get wickets.

Injuries have made the Sri Lankan management think of alternatives. And that’s how we got to see Akila Dananjaya and Malinda Pushpakumara come through.

Pushpakumara was effective, stuck to his strengths and was a decent enough replacement for the injured Rangana Herath. At some point, Sri Lanka will have to think about other options apart from Herath in tests.

Pushpakumara has a long way to go in order to replace Herath but he is a good alternative to have. Even in the case of Malinga, where he was far from his best, it was the likes of Akila Dananajaya and Milinda Siliwardana who took most of the wickets in the ODI series.

And they would be hopeful that the likes of Chameera, Kumara and Lakmal can improve their game by a notch, get more consistent and the void created by Malinga’s lack of form or probable retirement down the line will not be felt that much.

Sri Lanka need to back their pace bowling options and rotate them frequently. This series gave us a glimpse that when they were thrown in the deep end, they found alternatives who could get wickets and that they weren’t completely dependent on Herath in the tests or Malinga in the ODIs to create an impact.