Kaushal Silva's Ton Could Be Difference in Sri Lanka-Pakistan Test

Despite the rain having its say for much of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, a result is still very much possible in Galle.

Batsmen have found the going tough with the quickies and the spinners making an equal impact. The spinners have been very much in charge with nine of the 15 wickets so far going to the tweakers; it takes something really special to dig in and see it through. If the result goes Sri Lanka’s way in the end,  they will have Kaushal Silva to thank for much of it.

Silva dug in deep to score a century in Sri Lanka's innings when only one other player managed more than 23 runs. It took him 300 deliveries to get there after being dropped on two, and he became the first Sri Lankan opener in 14 years to face more than 300 balls in a Test on home soil. His patience and determination were epic and his temperament exemplary. On a track where even the notoriously patient Misbah-ul-Haq struggled, Silva’s effort stands out head and shoulders above everything else.

It has been an effort that has been a long time coming, and he could not have picked a better time to make such a big impact. Silva has played just 16 Tests for Sri Lanka, having first made his debut back in 2011. Now, as Sri Lanka enters a new era, it’s time for him to walk the talk.

Prior to this Test, Silva struggled with his conversion rate. In those 16 Tests, he managed seven 50s and one 100, and that happened against Bangladesh. No wonder, then, he thought he had a point to prove. Silva said at the post-match press conference:

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This was surely one of my best innings because I really wanted to prove a point to myself. For the last year I've been scoring a lot of 90s and 80s and missed three or four centuries. In the past I've been getting those big runs. I have 30-odd first-class hundreds. I had only one 100 and seven 50s last year, and I felt that's not what I'm like, normally. I usually capitalise and get hundreds. That was my target in this series. I just want to make hundreds—that's the ultimate goal.

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Reliability of a top-order player, knowing he will see off the new ball and set the foundation for the innings to come is one thing, but converting those scores and going on to get the big hundreds is the mark of a special player. Silva has not played enough to judge whether he is indeed “special,” but he certainly is determined. Since he was a young boy, his father has coached him and at the close of play on Day 3, he credited his dad for the contribution he has made to his career.

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My father taught me from the beginning, and he's been behind me every match I play. I get more bad comments than good comments from him, but he's always behind me and gives me advice. Whenever I go wrong or whenever I've been in a bad patch I go back to him.

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Should Silva’s ton end up being the difference in this Test and this effort finally get the conversion monkey off his back, that bad-and-good-comments equation might start to even out, or so Silva will hope.

All comments and information obtained firsthand.