De Silva backs experience to come good in Galle

Sri Lanka will resume their ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 campaign against neighbours India, in familiar surroundings of Galle.

The island nation has featured in four Tests thus far in the ongoing edition of the competition, and have a point percentge of 41.67. They sit at the sixth place, whereas India are at fifth with 48.15.

Positive outcomes in the upcoming home series could boost Sri Lanka's chances, and it is possibly a reason why they have backed experienced campaigners against India.

Amongst them is Niroshan Dickwella, who has featured in 54 Tests, and has been explicitly picked for his wicket-keeping skills.

"The only thing I have to tell Niroshan Dickwella is to keep well. That's why he's in the team," Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva was clear on the reasoning behind Dickwella's recall.

Dickwella hasn't set the stage alight with his batting at the Test level, with 2757 runs at an average of 30.97 with a highest score of 96, but has the team management's backing to come through because of his keeping skills.

"Dickwella had to leave the Test squad over the last few years because Kusal Mendis went to No. 7, and Kusal has played well there in the last few years so Dickwella didn't get a chance to come back," de Silva said. "But when you play at Galle, the most important thing is that the player with the best glovework plays."

Another experienced player who is backed by the setup is Lahiru Kumara. With an international career that is almost a decade old, Kumara has featured in 35 Tests with 104 wickets, the latest of which came against West Indies in North Sound in June. 

It however turned out to be a forgettable outing for Kumara, who was injured after bowling just one over, and missed the remainder of the series due to his hamstring injury.

But the pacer too was backed by de Silva to maintain his fitness and deliver against India.

"As a country and as a team, we don't have a huge pool of players that we can experiment with

"Right now in Sri Lanka, there's no bowler who can replace Lahiru Kumara in the squad. He's the fastest bowler we have playing red-ball cricket.

"Unfortunately, he got injured in the West Indies, and a series that we could have won became a 1-0 defeat. Hopefully, he will use that as motivation and he will do something big for us in this series."