SRILANKA – THE TEAM TO BEAT

Srilanka has been the most exciting team of this world cup. They are a well-balanced team. Their bowling, batting and fielding everything looks good. They look as a unit not as group of individuals. If it is Malinga’s turn to perform against Proteas then it is turn of Fernando to perform against England and Vaas against Kiwis. Similarly with their batting also: if it is Jayawardene against England then it is Sangakkara against Kiwis. Jayasuriya and Murali have been consistently delivering throughout this tournament. Not to forget the contributions of Dilshan, Chamara Silva and Russell Arnold. In each match atleast one player is taking responsibility and steering their side to victory.

Srilanka is the only team that appears to stop Australian juggernaut in pursuing their third world cup title in a row (Of course there is cunning Fleming with Bond, Shane Bond!). Initially I had reservations about Srilanka team’s ability to perform in crunch situations especially their middle-order batsmen and pace bowlers. But they have demonstrated that they have it in them to come good during critical situations so far.

Their batting, bowling and fielding are not the only things that amazes me but also the strategies behind their cricket. The way in which they dismissed Sehwag, how they used their power plays in each match, the manner in which the bowlers were rotated, all are fabulous.

Real test awaits them in semi-finals and in finals if they qualify. In knock out games individual brilliance of the likes of Jayasuriya and Muralidharan will come to the fore. I hope they will lead their team to second world cup title.