Aravinda may be put to better use down the order: Fernando

The final of the seventh Asia Cup tomorrow could be under some threat if the spell of wet weather that greeted the capital today spills over into the morrow. Former Sri Lankan player and manager, Ranjit Fernando suggested that the wicket had been drying up over the last few days and was providing greater purchase to the spinners, although the effect of the rains could alter that scenario.

He said that the wicket which was full of bounce at the beginning of the tournament had slowed down progressively and with the ball not coming as fluently onto the bat, there could a relatively low scoring affair in the offing. Fernando said that while it was an excellent move to use Aravinda de Silva as an opening bat, he was a bit concerned about the form of the middle order.

Mahela Jayawardene, Russell Arnold and Tillekeratne Dilshan were all struggling for form, having scored 32 runs in five innings between them, and it may be an idea to push Aravinda down to strengthen the middle order and revert to Romesh Kaluwitharana as Jayasuriya's partner, said Fernando. Sri Lanka have beaten Pakistan in five of their seven Asia Cup meetings but a twinge of self doubt should be playing on their minds after the turn of events in the final league game on Monday.

Fernando however didn't think that Sri Lanka should worry too much about the happenings yesterday. "It was just an off day, one of those days when everything goes wrong, with an element of panic coming through in Sri Lanka's batting", he noted. But he added that although Sri Lanka was far more organised in the recent series between the two countries in Pakistan, the latter had now got their act together, with the younger players leading the way by showing some aggression in the field.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani players were off to a dinner at the High Commission this evening. Wasim Akram, who was down with a bout of fever, did not attend but he should be making himself available for the big match tomorrow.