Dimuth Karunaratne said on Thursday he hopes Sri Lanka's spin reinforcements will deliver despite their team's Covid outbreak on the eve of the second Test against Australia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
One-day heroes Maheesh Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage could be handed Test caps as the hosts bid for a comeback in the final Test starting Friday on an expected turner at Galle.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Batting all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva, leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay and fast bowler Asitha Fernando were the latest to get the virus after left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama was ruled out on Tuesday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"That's really tough," Karunaratne told reporters. "We were planning for the match two days earlier but it's not easy when you are not able to finalise a proper XI, it's not easy as captain."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The team will undergo another round of testing before Karunaratne gets down to finalise the XI but the captain believes Theekshana could replace de Silva.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"All the spinners are available in the 13-man squad, so if they are cleared to play we can use Prabath (Jayasuriya) as a left-arm spinner," said Karunaratne.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"And Maheesh because we don't have Dhananjaya de Silva as a second off-spin bowler as they have plenty of left-handers in top-order.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"We are not thinking about third spinner yet. First, we are going to have the (Covid) tests and think about whether we want to play an all-rounder in Dunith or spinner in (Lakshan) Sandakan."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Theekshana, a mystery spinner who turns the ball both ways, claimed four wickets and kept Australia's batsmen in check in the ODI series which the hosts won 3-2.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
And 19-year-old Wellalage returned as the leading bowler in the ODIs as he picked up nine wickets with his left-arm spin.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Karunaratne said Test cricket is a different ball game but backed Theekshana to replicate his white-ball success in the longer format.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"He is a good bowler. We saw him giving trouble to the left-handers and the right-handers in one-dayers," said Karunaratne.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Hopefully he does the same thing. Just want him to do the same what he did in the ODIs, keep it simple."<\/p>\r\n\r\n