We are well prepared - Sangakkara

By Ranjan ANANDAPPA

WORLD CUP CRICKET: Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara said that his team is geared up to face any situation in the up-coming World Cup Cricket Tournament. The team is not worried, and they do not want to have negative thoughts of the preparation of grounds. He said that the final decision was to play well and be consistent on whatever grounds that are given for the matches.

“We are just going to be prepared as well as we can and do our best against whatever challenge condition and challenge we have to face,” said the confident Sangakkara.

Referring to Sri Lanka’s chances in the tournament, Sangakkara said: “according to the current format, from the quarter-finals onwards every team that lose will face elimination. So we can’t underestimate any team. Our first target is winning the first match and then try and get into the quarters.” The players look pretty relaxed, something like we were during the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. We are aware of what we have to do”. It is quite a different team from the 2007 World Cup. A couple of big time legends are not with us this time. So, it has a more youthful look. We hope that the youth will deliver us the goods” he said.

Sangakkara said that he was happy of the combination that he got. “We tried out few other combinations we had against the West Indies and it was good to win, minus a major part of our bowling attack in the last game. That was a decision we made because for us any combination out of the fifteen players should be able to win games,” Sangakkara added.

Wonderful memories

The Sri Lankan captain said that he had wonderful memories as a schoolboy of the 1996 winning World Cup team. Sangakkara was the captain of the Trinity College 1st XI team that year.

“It was wonderful memories really, not only watching that final, but the way the Sri Lanka team played right throughout the tournament playing against India and England. It was brilliant efforts by our batsmen, and we had probably the best suited bowling attack for the conditions at hand. He said that was the quality of the bowling department. We had three off- spinners, one left-arm spinner, and two quality fast bowlers. So it was very hard to beat a combination like that. The experience and the determination the players had shown was a great inspiration for us while playing in big tournaments,” Sangakkara added.

Referring to the first game against Canada at Hambantota, a venue where the Sri Lankans have not played previously, Sangakkara said that the players should be mentally prepared to beat a team like Canada, even at a venue that they have not previously played. “We shouldn’t go into extremes,if we could even play closer to our true potential we can beat Canada.”

“The Sri Lanka captain added that the momentum of winning games should be built from the first game itself. If one isolates a certain match and play it as a singular one in the context of the tournament, it will help the team relax. “If you play one match, thinking about two matches ahead, I don’t think it is going to work. Enjoy the game at hand and all players should please themselves with their performance. It will certainly help the team in the matches that follow” - that was what Sangakkara had to tell the team.

Disappointing game

Speaking about the game the Lankans lost to Australia in the final in 2007 in the West Indies, Sangakkara said that it was a game that the Sri Lankans should have won. “It was a disappointing game, 212 to chase, eight batsmen in the side, and those are scores a side should get nine times out of ten. Unfortunately we didn’t bat well at all to win and the Aussies batted very well,” lamented Sangakkara.

There is a huge amount of additional pressure building outside, with regard to the favourite team. May be Sri Lanka. Everyone categorises teams according to what the teams have done and what they have seen, and they put it out in the media. Sometimes it’s nice to know that we are a good team,but at the same time, more importantly, we should have the mental toughness to believe that we are as good as we think we are, and do the best during the match and win the important matches. To do that, our preparations should be good. To win our playing skills should be at the highest level,” emphasised Sangakkara.

“If we get into the quarter-finals it is a three game tournament, and how you get there, and how you kick on from there is very crucial” Sangakkara said.