- Hasaranga unsure IPL form will be vital at WC
Former Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews, speaking moments before the national team’s departure to the US for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Monday (13), was buoyant of his teammates’ ability to make their presence felt in the month-long event.
“I think we were involved in some good preparatory work, during the past few weeks,” he told reporters gathered at the SSC grounds, before the team’s official send-off at the SLC.
“All players are in good fettle. I feel as a team we are content with the training undergone and even more so as individual players. So we feel we are up for it.”
Mathews, who is the most senior member of the touring party at 36, said that the wickets in the US from the time that he had last played there 14 years ago, had transformed to slow turners.
“Obviously we are playing on new grounds. Therefore how the pitches will behave this time around we need to go there and see. But, we as a side are quite confident that we will be able to cope with it.”
He also said the decision to head to the US, at least a fortnight ahead of the tournament, will also stand Wanidu Hasaranga’s squad in good stead.
The seasoned all-rounder playing at his sixth World Cup, also was positive on the balance of the team and claimed that the side could boast of a ‘few world class batters and bowlers’, who could become game changers.
“Some of them on their day could change the outcome of a match, even single-handedly,” the veteran, the sole survivor of the country’s triumphant campaign in 2014, insisted without elaborating who they would be.
Meanwhile, captain Hasaranga though, was not keen to read too much into how the performances in the IPL would impact on an event like the World Cup, as the wickets were likely to differ markedly, as well as the concept of impact players.
“I feel there is a marked difference between the IPL and international cricket,” the all-rounder explained.
“At the IPL, there is this concept of the impact player. Also the wickets in India will be in stark contrast to what we would get in the US and the West Indies. So for these reasons, I am not so sure that the turns in the IPL will become decisive at the World Cup as well.”
The captain said that the ‘very squad’ that he had sought for the World Cup had been provided to him by the selectors and the coaches.
He too was content with the composition of his squad and said that they had opted to leave early to the US, to gauge the conditions at match venues and to gain first-hand experience of how the pitches would behave there.