Sri Lanka will field same team for second game
Shirajiv SIRIMANNE in India
Sri Lanka will field the same winning combination for their second
and final Twenty20 game which would be played today under lights at the
Mohali cricket stadium here at 5.30 p.m.
Sri Lankan skipper Kumara Sangakkara said that the team lived up to
expectations and there was no need to change the winning team.
“If individual players perform their part we have a good chance of
winning the second Twenty20as well,” he said.
He also said that a couple of debutants, spinner Muthumudalige
Pushpakumara and all rounder Chinthaka Jayasinghe too performed well.
Commenting on Sanath Jayasuriya he said that Sanath is a great
motivator to the team and he also turned around the first Twenty20 match
with a magical spell of bowling.
“Twenty20 is a difference ball game and players must enjoy it and the
Sri Lankan team loves this version of the game,” he added.
The team was determined to do well after their two defeats in the
Testmatches.
“Sri Lankan players have faced tough times both on and off the field
and they are resilient and this is a unique quality for the team to come
out in bad times,” he added.
The team is closely knitted together and each player knows inside out
of the other which is a trem endous advantage when playing.
He said that the team would have a lengthy discussion prior to the
match and plan out new moves as well as try to counteract new plans
which would be deployed by the Indian team,” he said. Commenting on the
two Test defeats he said that it was a big disappointment.
“We batted badly in the two innings in Kanpur and failed to take
wickets in the next match. Sri Lanka has to take 20 wickets and we
failed to do this,” he explained.
“Due to these factors we finished second best to India in that
series,” he said. Meanwhile Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said
that both paceman Sreesanth and middle order batsman Rohit Sharma have
been ruled out of the match.
Sreesanth, who missed the first match in Nagpur, has still not
recovered from a viral infection, Rohit sustained a shoulder injury in
the last game in Nagpur and will not be fit enough to take the field
today. Sreesanth took six wickets, five of them in the first innings, to
wreck SriLanka’s batting and earn the Man of the Match trophy. Their
replacements would be named today.
He said that unlike Tests India only plays a few Twenty20 and the
team should try to play more games of this nature.
“The dew would play an important role in today’s match. However, this
would not be a key factor to decide victory,” he said.
Mohali cricket ground is the newest Test playing ground of India,
having being built in 1983 and hosted its first ever Test match against
West Indies from December 10, 1994.
The Mohali pitch is also known to slow down later on and become a
batting paradise.
Mohali, India, Friday |