KARACHI: Sri Lanka’s interim head coach and former paceman Rumesh Ratnayake has expressed the hope that his country’s top players, who chose to skip the current tour of Pakistan, would make themselves available for the Test series against the hosts later in the year.

Test and ODI captain Dimuth Karunaratne along with former skippers Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal were among the Sri Lankan players who cited security reasons for not making the trip.

“This [limited-overs] series is a precursor for that [Test tour in December if everything goes smoothly during the coming several weeks. In fact, it would be a huge boost for Pakistan if our top players come for the Test matches without any fears over security issues in their minds,” Ratnayake told a media conference at the National Stadium here on Sunday.

“I’m sure this will certainly encourage others to sorts of take decisions but then it is something which we can’t enforce it on them [to tour]. They took a decision and we have to respect that.

“Moreover, the holding of this series is very important for Pakistan cricket. And if everything goes very well it would definitely encourage other [cricket] boards around the world to rethink and consider touring Pakistan after years of boycott.

“As far as we are concerned, there have been absolutely no worries in the squad and everyone is thoroughly enjoying the hospitality of the Pakistani folks. The security arrangements have been top-class to the extent that we are even not allowed to venture outside the team hotel to explore various places,” he said.

Commenting on the preparatory aspects for Monday’s game, the coach lamented the pre-series training had been badly disrupted by rain not just in Karachi but also back home in Sri Lanka.

“It has been raining for a while since we arrived here. But even before we came over, the preparations were hampered by rain back in Colombo,” Ratnayake, who played 23 Tests and 70 One-day Interna­tionals between 1982 and 1993, observed. “It seems as if it is raining the world over, because it’s has been raining elsewhere too. We had only a day’s training last Thursday and today [Sunday] was just another one.

“But overall speaking, our preparations haven’t been all that great but that won’t an excuse which I will give because the all the guys are professional players. The people who have taken their place are challenged to do well but only here for it’s for their own future too. So let’s hope there is further rain come tomorrow,” the 55-year-old added.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2019