Lanka to use relentless pace to nail India

Kandy, Sri Lanka, August 20: Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya on Monday promised to cut off all escape routes for India with a relentless pace attack in the second Test of the three-match series in Kandy.

"The new pace bowlers have come as a boon for Sri Lankan cricket... We'll continue using them for maximum effect on the seaming and bouncy pitches for this series against India," Jayasuriya said.

Kandy's high-altitude venue will prove to be a litmus test for Indian batsmen, who struggled to cope with the Sri Lankan seam attack in the coastal town of Galle last week and crashed to a 10-wicket defeat in the series opener.

Indian batsmen, groomed on lifeless tracks back home, have long suffered a handicap when playing outside the subcontinent. Their woes have been compounded now with some subcontinental pitches undergoing a dramatic transformation.

Sri Lanka, which for more than a decade has banked on their long standing world-class off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, has laid out hard green-top tracks for the Indian team.

A glut of pace bowlers has given Sri Lanka the confidence to lay a seaming ambush for the injury-hit Indian team, which is hampered by the absence of two leading batsmen - Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman - from this series.

Jayasuriya said Sri Lanka might change their strategy against teams which have a better pace attack than it, but for now he will prefer seaming pitches.

"Our strategy (about pitches) might change depending on the opposition we play, but right now we're happy with seaming and bouncy tracks," he said.

Sri Lanka's coach Dav Whatmore said he knew all along that pace bowling will be a key feature of this series despite the presence of two world-class spinners - Sri Lanka's Muralitharan and India's Harbhajan Singh.

"I feel the side with the better fast bowling attack has a great chance of winning," said Whatmore, reiterating his prediction before the onset of the series.

"We've now got our strongest pace bowling attack for some time," he said. "We possess two world-class fast bowlers in Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando and have a lot of depth in our pace bowling reserves."

Jayasuriya said he wanted to overcome the jinx of frittering away the lead gained at Galle in two previous test matches against South Africa and England in Kandy.

On both these occasions the Kandy Test proved to be Sri Lanka's undoing, as it crashed to defeat from a comfortable position.

Sri Lanka's defeats in Kandy allowed South Africa to draw the series 1-1 while England carried on to win the decider to clinch the rubber 2-1.

Sri Lanka's national newspaper, Daily News, said losing Test matches in Kandy had become a bad habit with Sri Lanka.

But Jayasuriya promises to turn the tide. "We're trying to change that trend in this series ... We've got to get it right," Jayasuriya said. "Nobody wants us to lose the next two Tests like we did against England this year."

Whatmore said in the past the team had failed to maintain its intensity and paid the penalty of losing those test matches. "We lost despite being in a winning position," he said.

The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka underlined its emphasis on pace attack by retaining five pace bowlers in an unchanged squad for the second Test match, including young all-rounder Suresh Perera who was reported for a suspect action by West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor.

India's woes were compounded by the injury to their pace spearhead Javagal Srinath, who flew back on Saturday after a scan on his left arm disclosed a fracture. He was struck by a rising delivery from Fernando during the first Test match.

After the mauling in Galle, the Indian team management cancelled its plans for a two-day break for recuperation and put in some extensive work at the nets ahead of the second Test.

But India's out-of-form batsmen will need more than acclimatisation to tackle the seaming and bouncing deliveries in Kandy. "It's a big challenge and two Tests to go," said Indian coach John Wright. "We've got to pick ourselves up and play with pride and commitment."