Sri Lanka have come to India looking to build momentum before the World Cup, but they have run into an upbeat Indian team.
In their final 4 matches before the World Cup, the islanders are up against tough opposition
MUMBAI: Sri Lanka have come to India looking to build momentum as the World Cup approaches in a month’s time but, in doing so, they run into an upbeat Indian team that knows how to win matches on home turf.
The 6-1 drubbing that Sri Lanka received was 14 months back and coach Tom Moody believes that “a lot of water has passed since then”.
The Sri Lankans have elected to rest Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas for the four-match ODI series and on the batsmen friendly wickets of India, their experienced guile shall be missed.
“It will be a tough challenge for us but I think it is a good chance for other players here. India at home is a totally different outfit than India playing abroad. They are a force to be reckoned with and it is good challenge for us going ahead,” said Moody.
While India go into the series looking to play their best XI in a sort of a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, Sri Lanka just want to make sure they keep improving.
“There are no major chinks in the armour but our aim is to try and keep improving. A player is always a work in progress. Today, tomorrow, during the World Cup, we have to keep improving,” said Moody. “The day we stop improving, I will be very disappointed. We just want to play better tomorrow then we did today.”
In cricketing circles, the talk for a while has been that the wickets in the West Indies will be similar to those in India but Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene doesn’t see that as an advantage leading into the big tournament.
“It’s a funny thing. In the Champions Trophy (which was held in India), not one of the teams from the sub-continent made it to the semi-finals. I believe that in the World Cup, the final result won’t have much to do with wickets. It’s the players that will make the difference,” he said.
Particularly heartening for Jayawardene has been the way the likes of Kumara Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga and leg-spinner Malinga Bandara have performed in recent times.
“The absence of Vaas and Murali gives opportunities to others to step up and take responsibility. They had been absent before too and someone like Malinga Bandara had stepped up and bowled very well,” said Moody.
The Sri Lanka coach also felt that Malinga’s continued rise owed a lot to not only his work ethic but also the fact that he was introduced into one-day cricket very gradually.
“He’s a strike bowler who has been slowly inducted into the ODI squad. The slow transition has been important,” he said. The Lankan team landed in Mumbai by a Sri Lankan Airways flight on Friday.
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