Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka has always been an under rated side when it comes to World Cups. Neither have they been ever tagged as ‘favourite’ nor would have many been bullish on them, apart from their purist supporters.
However, repeatedly they have proven they are a unit that cannot be taken lightly. The blue carders have risen to the occasion many a times, stunned the best and have even gone all the way.
Having made it to back-to-back World Cup finals in 2007 and 2011, where they ended up being the runners-up, the Lankans would be keen to break the jinx in the World Cup in the southern hemisphere and regain the title they won in 1996.
More so they would like to do it for two of their stalwarts — Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara — who have been the backbone of the Sri Lankan team for well over a decade and have already announced their post-World Cup retirement plans.
Jayawardene and Sangakkara have already given enough evidence that they are in good nick with some useful runs under their belt during the recently concluded series against the New Zealand, who are the co-hosts with Australia for the World Cup.
Sri Lanka lost the ODI series to Kiwis 4-2 but Jayawardene and Sangakkara aggregated 274 and 313 runs, respectively with a century each against their name. Another veteran campaigner in the ranks is Tillakaratne Dilshan, who too was among runs and the 39-yr-old would also be keen to sign off on a high. The trio brings in a plethora of experience behind them and makes the job easy for their all-rounder skipper Angelo Mathews.
Left-handed opener Dimuth Karunaratne, who scored a century in the first Test against New Zealand at Christchurch, also figures in the squad but he has clearly struggled in the recent ODIs prompting Mathews to fall on middle-order batsman Lahiru Thirimanna, who did provide some decent starts.
Dinesh Chandimal’s form is a worry but Lanka have some good all-rounder bowlers in Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera and Suranga Lakmal to fall back on.
However, what coach Marvan Atapattu and the entire nation would be fretting over is the fitness of the star bowler Lasith Malinga, who underwent surgery on a troubled left ankle in September last year. Malinga missed Sri Lanka’s one-dayers against India, England and even against New Zealand the team think-tank chose to keep him cocooned.
The Kiwis took the Lankan attack to cleaners in Malinga’s absence but the entire cricketing fraternity is well aware of the prowess of the pace sensation. Malinga has 271 career wickets at an average of 27 and at his World Cup debut in the 2007 in the West Indies he played a key role in Sri Lanka’s charge to the final; taking 18 wickets from eight matches to finish the tournament as the fifth-leading wicket taker.
In the 2011 Cricket World Cup, too, he was very effective and who can forget his demolition of Kenya in the opening stages with figures of 6/38.
The stability that Malinga could bring to the squad can be gauged with what coach Atapattu said in an interview recently. “His availability would make a huge change not only to how we perform, but how we think.”
If the 31-year-old fast bowler with deceptive slingy action misses out, then along with the Sri Lankan team, it will be a huge blow for the tournament as a whole.
Spin option has been boosted with Sachithra Senanayake’s inclusion. The off-spinner booked for suspect action had to undergo corrective action to regain his cap. Senanayake’s presence with their top spinner Rangana Herath hands tremendous edge in the spin department and makes the Sri Lankan team a perfect package for the World Cup.
