Australia vs Sri Lanka 2019: Vishwa Fernando Replaces Nuwan Pradeep in Test Squad

Sri Lanka’s southpaw seamer Vishwa Fernando has replaced injured Nuwan Pradeep in the two-match Test squad against Australia. Nuwan Pradeep was ruled out from the ongoing series due to grade one strain on his left hamstring. Meanwhile, Vishwa Fernando last played for Sri Lanka in the Test match against India in August 2017. However, since then he hasn’t played any red ball match for the country.

In fact, Vishwa Fernando has played only two Test matches for Sri Lanka. On the other hand, Sri Lanka has never won a Test match on the Australian soil. Thus, it is a long term dream of current captain Dinesh Chandimal to create history in Australia.

Sri Lanka has never won a Test on Australia soil.

“One of my dreams as a captain and player is to win a Test match here,” said Chandimal.

“But that’s not an easy thing coming here. You have to do a lot of hard work, that has to come from all 11 players for all five days.

“That’s what we are looking at as a team. It is a really good opportunity to make history and we just want to do that as a team.”

Sri Lanka's captain Dinesh Chandimal and Australia's captain Tim Paine pose with the Warne Murali Test trophy at the Gabba Cricket Ground ahead of their first day-night Test match against Sri Lanka on January 24. #AUSvSL pic.twitter.com/TjT9b8givY

— Sri Lanka Cricket ?? (@OfficialSLC) January 23, 2019

The first Test match is a Day-Night affair between the two sides. Sri Lanka’s captain Dinesh Chandimal has won the toss and decided to bat first. The visitors have lost three wickets and have currently scored 54 runs.

Interesting stats between Australia and Sri Lanka:

Australia has not lost a Test match at the Gabba since 1988. They lost that match against the West Indies. The hosts have an unbeaten streak of 29 matches at Brisbane.

Sri Lanka has lost 10 out of the 12 Test series they have played against Australia.Mitchell Starc is playing his 50th Test match and has scalped 199 Test wickets. The pacer has taken 34 wickets against Sri Lanka at an average of 19.1.

Australia has won a solitary match out of the last nine matches. They have lost six matches and have drawn two matches.