Dilshan looks to continue his form

Chris Dhambarage reporting from India

Sri Lanka’s dynamic all rounder Tillekeratne Dilshan said that he is excited and looking forward to playing at the revamped Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai which is the venue of the ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup’s summit clash on April 2. Sri Lanka the 1996 champions and runners up in 2007 will take on the current table leaders New Zealand in their last Group ‘A’ match of the 14 nation tournament at this same venue.

Dilshan who is in contention for the Most Valuable Player award believe that his team has got a great opportunity to make use of the conditions at this ground which will be hosting its second One Day International in more than three hand a half years.

Earlier New Zealand had the distinction of playing the first match at the reconstructed Wankhede Stadium against Canada on March 13. The stadium now sports a cantilevered roof and underwent a huge makeover since mid-2008.

The entire central square of the playing arena has been relaid. However with bucket seats installed in all stands the stadium’s capacity has also been reduced from 38,000 to 31,000.

Dilshan believe that he need to keep focusing on the game and continue with the good work after he single handedly carried Sri Lanka into the quarterfinals of the tournament with a massive 139 run victory over Zimbabwe at the Pallekele International Stadium. The dashing right hand opening batsman plundered a 95 ball century his first in a World Cup and then followed up by capturing four wickets for four runs from three overs including two wickets in successive deliveries.

With his excellent all round performances Dilshan has moved into the second place in the Most Valuable Player award rankings and has a great chance of overtaking Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi who is currently on top of the rankings.

Even then Dilshan believe that the team could still improve in all departments of the game as they look to playing some competitive cricket during the rest of the tournament.

“We are playing good cricket as a unit at the moment, but the important thing is we can perform better” said Dilshan who is one of the leading run getters in the tournament having struck 38 fours from his five matches so far.

Dilshan’s outstanding form with the bat in the World Cup has also helped him to move into the fifth place in the ICC Rankings for batsman with a tally of 740 points and averaging 35.88.

Sri Lanka are currently placed third in the points table but could be satisfied with their performances considering the fact that they have the best net run rate among the seven teams in their group with an aggregate of +2.705.