
Sri Lanka had the opportunity to finish third, above India, if not be able to seal a spot in the World Test Championship final but Australia proved to be too strong in series opener in Galle last week. Steve Smith and Co piled on runs on Galle wicket like it was backyard cricket with Usman Khawaja smashing his maiden double ton and debutant Josh Inglis scoring a 90-ball century. Australia had a great time against a slightly timid Sri Lankan team, achieving an innings victory but the visitors will be aware that they can't take foot off the pedal.
For Sri Lanka, their former captain and one of the best opening batters of all-time Dimuth Karunaratne will be playing his 100th and final Test in Galle this week, starting Thursday, February 6. Karunaratne reckoned that with his inconsistent form at this stage of his career, keeping himself motivated for playing just four Tests in a whole year would be difficult and hence, what better occasion than calling it a day than your centenary appearance for your country in the toughest format of the game.
Toss proved to be vital in the first Test in Galle and hence, Sri Lanka will hope that the coin falls in their favour in the decider. Sri Lanka have done well in recent times in Test cricket but a 0-2 series defeat in South Africa exposed some of the chinks in the armour. Australia will start as favourites again but Sri Lanka will aim to give Karunaratne a winning farewell.
My Dream11 team for SL vs AUS 2nd Test
Dimuth Karunaratne, Usman Khawaja, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Steve Smith (c), Prabath Jayasuriya, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Matt Kuhnemann (vc), Nathan Lyon, Kamindu Mendis