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| Sunday, 18 May 2003 |
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We've got to win before thinking of bonus points says Atapattu by SA'ADI THAWFEEQ reporting from Dambulla DAMBULLA, May 17 - Sri Lanka are trying hard not to impose too much pressure on themselves when they confront Pakistan for the second time in the Bank Alfalah Cup tri-nation one-day match at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium here tomorrow. Sri Lanka lost the first match by a margin of 79 runs and will be hoping to reverse the result if they are to be in contention for a place in the final. Defeat would mean their road to the final would be strewn with more obstacles than they can overcome. "We don't want to put ourselves under undue pressure by thinking of bonus points. It may become handy in the end, but we've got win the game first before start to think of bonus points," said Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu. "In our case, we hadn't had a good run with the bat and to all of a sudden go for a bonus point I thought at that moment wasn't that clever," said Atapattu recalling the match against New Zealand last Tuesday which Sri Lanka won but did not take the bonus point. That win still left Sri Lanka at the bottom of the table with five points while New Zealand who have picked up two bonus points head the table with seven points with Pakistan second on six. "The victory against New Zealand has given confidence to the boys. What we have to do from here is to continue the good work with the bat. A win is a win whatever said and done. We have done well to achieve that and it's a matter of going on from there. Hopefully, the batters can do the job for us," said Atapattu. "Not only tomorrow's game but every game is important. I take it game by game, so does my team. We will try and do our best tomorrow when we get on to the field," he said. "If we do all our homework and practices right, everybody is working hard on their batting that's all you can expect to do. It's a matter of putting hard work in and going to the middle and performing. "You obviously carry a bat to score runs. If you fail, it's bad luck. It is not just happening. Everybody is putting their 100 percent and everybody is very keen. It is just that it didn't come off in the past few months. Hopefully, it will change as the tournament progresses and it will come quick. Once it comes, it will remain for a good time. I know everybody is keen," he said. Atapattu said the toss was important, but looking at the pitch saw a glimmer of hope that it might be better than the previous ones produced in the tournament. "It looks much drier and the colour itself tells you a story. It looks quite different to the ones we had for the earlier games. Hopefully it will be a good one-day wicket and a lot of runs will be scored on it," he said. There was a minor concern over the fitness of key spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who did not practice today as he was nursing a groin injury. Team sources however said that he would be fit for tomorrow's match. Pakistan coach Javed Miandad also agreed that the pitch prepared for tomorrow's game looked better than the one's before. "I don't know how it will behave. It's a bit windy here and everything will depend on what conditions we'll get tomorrow," said Miandad. "Tomorrow's game is crucial for both teams. We beat Sri Lanka in the first game and our morale is very high. Obviously in one-day cricket anything can happen, but we have confidence in ourselves," he said. Teams SRI LANKA (from): Marvan Atapattu (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Prabath Nissanka, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandana, Dharshana Gamage. PAKISTAN (from): Rashid Latif (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Faisal Iqbal, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Yasir Hameed, Shabbir Ahmed. UMPIRES: Tyronne Wijewardene (Sri Lanka) and Daryl Harper (Australia), TV umpire: Gamini Silva (Sri Lanka), Match Referee: Gundappa Viswanath (India). |
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