Lanka Diary

When the Bangladeshi cricketers returned to their rooms at the Hotel Taj Samudra on Wednesday night, everyone was holding a piece of paper provided by the team management.

It was a part of their preparation for the second and final Test against Sri Lanka which starts here in five days.

The preparation began with a two-day vacation to boost their mental strength, which has been identified by the think-tank as the reason behind its repeated failures.

They also needed some real rest after three weeks on the tour with only a day's break after preparation at home.

To have a fresh idea about the psychological condition of the players, the paper included two questions for the Tigers, who were whitewashed 3-0 in the one-day series in the island called the 'Pearl of Indian Ocean' .

The questions were what the players think ahead of a match and what runs in a batsman's mind when one starts walking from the dressing room toward the crease.

Answers to these questions might come up with some positive ideas to get rid of the mental block that has been evident in the ongoing tour even after a decent finish in England this summer.

Most of the cricketers, who did not think that it was ideal to spend the day watching the waves of the ocean from their hotel rooms, went for shopping after a late breakfast. And some cricketers also came across former Test cricketer Roshan Mahanama, now working for the Players' Association, at the posh shopping mall Odel.

But three members of the 14-member squad, who were not a part of the first Test, went for training.

However, it would be complete rest for the team on Friday when they travel to Elephant Orphanage, a famous tourist spot in Sri Lanka.

The village of Pinnewalla in Rambukaan is a government-sponsored refuge which cares for nearly a 100 orphaned wild elephants. The park, where thousands of elephant lovers visit to feed the orphans and see them bathing, is a two-hour drive from the capital and just 38 kilometres near Kandy, the cultural and religious heart of the country.

It was wishful thinking that by Saturday, the Tigers would come up with answers of the questionnaire to help the management make new plans to face the mighty Lankans.

NO REPLACEMENT
Bangladesh will go into the second Test with the same squad (14 members) as the selectors have decided not to bring any replacement for injured pace bowler Tapash Baisya, chief selector Faruque Ahmed confirmed on Thursday.

Talha Jubair, who flew in for Mashrafee bin Mortuza, Manjarul Islam and Nafees Iqbal are the three who missed the first Test.

FEAR FACTOR
Bangladesh's fear factor in the Test series had clearly been Muttiah Muralitharan. It was written on the faces of the players even after a day after the first Test ended inside two and a half days. And when the second Test starts at the master off-spinner's home ground, one might assume how the players would feel to stand in front of the second highest Test wicket-taker again.

The P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo, popularly called P Sara, is home to the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club where Kandy-born Muralitharan has been playing his domestic cricket.

But much to the relief of the visitors, the wicket is well known as a batting paradise. According to Muralitharan himself, 'Sara favours the batsmen and the bowlers have to work hard for their wickets'.

It will be Bangladesh's second Test at one of the oldest venues in Sri Lanka, which will hold its first Test match since April 2003. The first international match was held here in 1982 and the last one-day international in 1994.

The organisers returned to the almost forgotten ground, formerly known as the Colombo Oval, mainly due to avoid cost.

The rent of the Sinhalese Sports Club is too high and that was one of the main reasons why the organisers decided to open up the Premadasa Stadium to Test cricket after seven years. With a low-ranked team like Bangladesh visiting, they perhaps knew beforehand that the crowd response and hence the gate money would not be handsome enough cover losses.