By Bipin Dani
In an interesting turn of events, it’s unclear whether the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board took a leaf out of its Indian counterpart’s book, but the home players won’t have their WAGs I(wives or Girl-friends), at least for the first Test match against the visiting Australians starting Wednesday. “No, no wives or family members are with the home players in Galle,” an SLC source confirmed from Colombo on Sunday evening.
Adding a twist, both teams are staying in separate hotels due to insufficient room availability at the hotel where the home team is stationed. The source explained, “Both teams had training on Sunday. On Monday, our team will have another training session in the afternoon. The four-day camp, an initiative by our head coach Sanath Jayasuriya, ended on Saturday. Unfortunately, two days were wasted due to heavy rain. Our players, with the help of about ten net bowlers, played matches throughout the day in this camp. It was the idea of our coach to create a match-atmosphere in the camp.”
The original squad of 18 announced by the SLC has been reduced to 17, as injured Pathum Nissanka hasn’t traveled with the team for the first Test. He may join before the second Test subject to his fitness. Interestingly, the selectors haven’t appointed a Vice-Captain to the Dhananjaya de Silva-led team.
As both teams gear up for an exciting series, it remains to be seen how the absence of family support will impact the players’ performance on the field. With intense training and strategic preparations in place, Sri Lanka hopes to make a strong start against the formidable Australian side.
