Dhoni, Sangakkara mull over combination as attention shifts to the drawing board

With the sun starting to warm an exceptionally cold November morning at the Green Park Stadium, Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara placed his hands on the pitch, trying to gauge the moisture hidden below its hard exterior.

He was first joined by the team’s manager, coach and support staff, and then by his trump card Muttiah Muralitharan, who raised an eyebrow at the wicket’s greenish tinge before talking — while the others listened — for a full 10 minutes in rapid, animated Sinhalese.

The Indians, busy at the nets near the fine-leg fence, had already made their customary visit to the centre by then, and the think-tanks of both units seemed largely unsure about what to expect from the surface over the course of the next five days, in the second Test starting on Tuesday.

“The conditions are taken into account, but at the end of the day, you have the team combination charted out for the full match,” Dhoni said later, trying to dispel a barrage of questions on the pitch by stressing that it wouldn’t be the only factor in the match.

“You want to decide whether you want to go hard for the first one hour or not take the risk of being at the receiving end in the fourth innings, when the ball is spinning and bouncing and you have the pressure of chasing a target,” he said.

Options open
Like the Lankans, Dhoni has decided to keep his options open on a wicket that has a fair bit of grass but looks dry and ready to break once the ball and the batsmen’s feet pound on it for the first three days.

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