Dimuth Karunaratne has his eyes set on the WTC Final as Sri Lanka gets ready to face Pakistan

Despite the chaotic condition in the country, the Sri Lankan cricket team has been able to pull off one incredible performance after another as they gave tough competition to the Australian team on their recent tour to Sri Lanka. After losing the T20 series, Sri Lanka made a terrific comeback and beat the Aussies by 3-2 in the ODI series and levelled the Test series by 1-1.

The Lankan team will now face Pakistan in a two-match Test series. Their side will be reinforced as batting all-rounder Dhananjaya De Silva makes a return to the team after recovering from Covid-19.

Talking about his team combination before the Test, captain Dimuth Karunaratne informed about De Silva’s return to the team in the pre-match press conference.

“Oshada Fernando will open the innings with me. Dhananjaya De Silva takes his place back and we’ll have to look again who is batting at five and six," Karunaratne said.

The series will make dramatic changes in the current World Test Championship standings as Sri Lanka rose to the third position after their win against Australia while Pakistan are placed second in the standings.

“It’s good to see that we’re higher up after playing a good series. If we can win both Test matches, we have a good chance of playing in the WTC final (next year). But I am trying to play one by one," said the Sri Lanka skipper.

Sri Lankan captain is wary of the challenge that Pakistan team presents and contended that they will be a tough team to beat.

“They’re a different team. Good against spin as well. Previously, they have done pretty good in the Test level. We have to do our basics well if we want to keep them restricted," Karunaratne said of his opposition.

Dinesh Chandimal who hit an unbeaten 206 and left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya who returned a match haul of 12 wickets on debut were the stars of the show as Sri Lanka beat Australia by an innings and 39 runs to level the three-match series by 1-1.