Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva has urged his fast bowlers to lift their performance as the hosts look to level the two-match series against India when the second Test gets underway at the SSC Ground, Colombo on Sunday. Sri Lanka trail 1-0 after suffering a 165-run defeat in Galle, and a win here would earn them crucial 12 World Test Championship (WTC) points.

The India Blueprint Sri Lanka Want to Follow

De Silva pointed to India's first-innings dominance at Galle as the model his side must replicate. 'It's about putting runs on the board. That's what India did (at Galle). For the first two days they batted and got 460 runs. We are trying to improve and get some runs and take 20 wickets,' he said at the pre-match press conference.

The captain acknowledged the challenge of bouncing back quickly. 'We are one down and disappointed. Here we need to play well from the outset. Even though we are short on experience, we have a lot of talent. A lot of players have performed well in the Test and 'A' team,' he added. De Silva noted the SSC pitch is expected to offer good batting conditions for the first two days, with Sri Lanka set to field the same combination of two seamers and two spinners.

Kamil Mishara and Vishwa Fernando Eye Recalls

On potential squad changes, de Silva indicated that opener Kamil Mishara is in line for a debut, buoyed by recent form that included a century in a T20 fixture the previous week. A reshuffle in the pace department is also under consideration, with left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando emerging as a possible inclusion. 'He scored a hundred in a T20 last week; if you followed him in the last few months, he has scored well. We are also looking at a left-arm pacer, maybe Vishwa Fernando,' de Silva revealed.

Sri Lanka's Pace Depth Problem

A persistent concern for the hosts is the thin pool of high-pace options. De Silva was candid about the squad's limitations beyond lead seamer Asitha Fernando and Lahiru Kumara. 'Even with Lahiru Kumara, we have tried very hard to get him to play injury-free. At the moment, given our resources, Lahiru Kumara is the best match to partner Asitha. Asitha's line and length are perfect, and Lahiru Kumara has the pace,' he said.

The captain was forthright about the absence of genuine express pace in the current Test set-up. 'I'd also like for there to be two or three bowlers who can bowl at more than 140kph, but unfortunately we only have one bowler like that (in the Test set-up),' he admitted, adding that he hopes the country will develop more such cricketers in the future.

Why Fast Bowlers Are Central to De Silva's Vision

De Silva has made deploying two pace bowlers a consistent feature of his captaincy, a departure from past Sri Lanka sides that often relied on a single seamer. 'Every match we've played under me, we've had two pace bowlers, whereas in the past, we would only bowl one. I believe pacers have a role to play in Sri Lanka. If your fast bowlers can get wickets here, they can get wickets anywhere,' he said.

He drew a sharp contrast between visiting and home seamers at venues like Galle and the SSC. 'Foreign pace bowlers have taken five wickets in Galle, for instance, but recently, none of our seamers have done that at Galle or SSC. Our fast bowlers lack that confidence. If they can raise their game a little bit — by a few percent — we can move forward better as a team,' de Silva concluded. With the WTC cycle adding stakes beyond the bilateral series, Sri Lanka's pace unit faces a defining test on home soil.