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T20 World Cup in England
Practice as a full unit only in England says Lankan team Manager |
| By S.R. Pathiravithana |
The Sri Lanka cricketers who are involved in the Indian Premier League T20 tournament now in progress in South Africa will begin to filter in after the first round is finished, but the team practicing as a whole unit will earnestly begin when they arrive in England, says the Lankan team manager Brendon Kuruppu.
Out of the Lankan cricketers who are involved in the IPL it is very likely that the Delhi Daredevils where opener T.M. Dilshan is involved is very likely to reach the final of the tournament which will be held on the 24th of this month.
With the team leaving on the 28th of May, it is very unlikely that any Lankan cricketer whose team that reaches the IPL final would reach Lankan soil in time to attend practices at this end. Besides that according to Kuruppu, some of the cricketers who are down to visit ‘Old Blighty’ are with the Lankan development squad, now playing in Bangladesh.
Kuruppu said “Initially the whole squad practiced before leaving for the IPL. Then, practices have been going on since the day that the squad was announced with the remaining players in Sri Lanka; however it is the players who have had IPL contracts and overseas assignments who have been missing”.
The Lankan team manager also added “We will have practice sessions from May 30 to June 1 in England and there we will have our full unit sessions. In spite of the first practice match that has been cancelled, we have two side games against Bangladesh on June 2 and against South Africa on June 3. At the same time we are also very fortunate that our first game is on the 8th of June against Australia followed by the West Indies on the 10th. So we have adequate time to settle in have some meaningful practices.
The two success stories in this season’s IPL in South Africa where Sri Lanka is concerned are batsman T.M. Dilshan (for Delhi Daredevils) and fast bowler Lasith Malinga (for Mumbai Indians). These two players have been in the forefront of their respective teams’ with some noteworthy performances. Besides this the Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena who are appearing for Kings Punjab have done reasonably well with the bat, but Sangakkara at times failed with his glove work while veteran Muttiah Muralitharan gave his employers their monies worth.
Among the other Lankans at the IPL, Ajantha Mendis and Angelo Mathews (Kolkata Knight Riders) Thilina Thushara (Chennai Super Kings), Chaminda Vaas (Deccan Charges) and Farveez Maharoof (Delhi Daredevils), have flunked with their given opportunities.
The rest of the Lankan gang – Chamara Silva and Nuwan Zoysa (Deccan Charges), Nuwan Kulasekera (Kings Punjab), Dilhara Fernando (Mumbai Indians) were not picked for any of the games.
Out of the above – Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Zoysa and Chaminda Vaas will not be touring England for the T20 tournament. |
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