Published: Jan 01, 2017, 07:12 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 01, 2017, 07:12 PM (IST)
The second Test of the three-match series between South Africa and Sri Lanka will be played at Cape Town from Monday. The touring side has already lost the first match of the series and will be eyeing to bounce back. The advantage automatically goes to South African camp as they are the home team and will be aiming to seal the series by winning the second Test too. Despite defeat in the first Test, the young side of Sri Lanka, which is not very experienced, has the ability to bring the twist as they did against Australia at home. Sri Lankan bowlers did the laudable job in the first innings of the first Test but their batsmen could not capitalise on that advantage. The second Test will surely induce some interesting clashes among the players from both the teams. Let us take a look at some of the key battles that we may get to witness in the second Test:
Suranga Lakmal vs Dean Elgar: The 29-year old Sri Lankan pacer did an impressive work with the ball in the first innings of the first Test by scalping five wickets. It was his effort that brought Sri Lanka back into the game after South African openers Elgar and Stephen Cook had a good start. Lakmal got the wickets of both the openers but when it comes to Elgar in particular, the Sri Lankan bowler has a knack of taking his wicket. Both these players have come across each other in three matches and Lakmal has had better of Elgar so far. Elgar has been dismissed by Lakmal thrice so far, which is the joint-most for the Lankan bowler and that makes the battle pretty obvious.
Full Cricket Scorecard: South Africa vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test at Cape Town
Rangana Herath vs Faf du Plessis: The big and the most experienced man of this Lankan team is quite famous for taking opposing team’s captain’s wicket. Be it Misbah-ul-Haq, Steven Smith, Michael Clarke, etc, Herath likes to charge against the leader of the opponents and one can expect him doing the same against du Plessis. Moreover, in three matches where du Plessis and Herath have come across each other, the Lankan spinner has dismissed him twice and will aim to make his number better against the Protea captain.
Vernon Philander vs Angelo Mathews: There has been no rivalry noticed as such between both the players but if one takes a glance at the numbers, the battle between them seems pretty evident. Both Mathews and Philander are all-rounders of their team and among the most important players of their side. They have played five matches so far against each other and Philander has got Mathews’ wicket thrice from those clashes. These numbers speaks enough about the potential battle between them.
Dilruwan Perera vs Quinton de Kock: Both Perera and de Kock have played exact number of Tests (14) so far in their career. Interestingly, despite being known for his attacking batting style, the South African batsman has often offered his wicket to this Lankan spinner. There are only two bowlers who have dismissed de Kock thrice in his short career so far. First is Josh Hazlewood, not a surprising name and the second is Perera, who is definitely pretty interesting candidate in the list. Also, Perera likes to take on the attacking batsmen from the opposition camps. Besides taking de Kock’s wicket three times, which is his joint-best, Perera has also got David Warner’s wicket on three occasions. This probably makes Perara ‘joker of his team’.
