Jayasuriya brushes aside retirement talks

MUMBAI: Flamboyant Sri Lanka batsman Sanath Jayasuriya on Monday brushed aside talks of any immediate retirement plans after the World Cup and said he was working hard on his fitness and enjoying the game.

"I am enjoying the game and working hard on the physical aspect of my game. I am working hard on my fitness. I am planning to play in the World Cup and in another one-day tournament after that," said the former Lanka skipper after his team's practice session at the Bandra-Kurla complex.

The left-handed opener, one of the chief architects of then islanders' only World Cup triumph in 1996, said it was good to see Indian ace Sachin Tendulkar back in roaring form.
 
"Tendulkar has always been a great performer. It was good to see his performance in the last one-dayer and now in Mumbai," said the man nicknamed Matara Marauder.

The champion Indian batsman cracked a superb 100 batting in the middle order against the Windies and then followed it up with a crucial century knock to pull Mumbai out of a difficult situation on the first day of the Ranji final.

Jayasuriya, a veteran of 375 ODIs in which he had scored over 11,400 runs, said it was understandable why people are quick to jump on the bandwagon and criticise players like Tendulkar and himself when their form dips a bit.

"When we have reached such a high level, people's expectations will always be high," he said.