Kumar Sangakkara has always been a smart talker, and his press conference before the semi-final against New Zealand was no different. Confronted with the prospect of playing the crucial match without the talismanic Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan skipper put on a brave face.“In terms of injuries, we have to make sure that the team and the player are both comfortable with the situation. We are hoping he (Murali) would be fine but if he’s not, it’s something that we will accept and get on with it,” Sangakkara told reporters.
“There’s no room for complacency, no chance of that happening in anyone’s mind. You understand the gravity of the situation and the challenge that has come our way. You have to accept it and enjoy. The guys have done that pretty well and tomorrow’s not going to be any different. It is not a question of playing for the crowd and showing off. We need to play good solid cricket.”
The skipper believes his inform opening batsmen, Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan, could make the difference against New Zealand, as they did against England in the quarter- final, which Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets. “The reason why it seemed like an easier match was because our openers put up a magnificent partnership. Those kinds of partnerships don’t come around very often.
That kind of overshadowed the contest as such. England were a side we were wary of, we expected nothing less than the best from them. On starting as favourites against New Zealand, Sangakkara said: “I think all New Zealand players have done well. They bat deep and have quality bowling and they are a quality fielding side. They are not an opposition anybody would take lightly.
“We are going to expect the stiffest competition tomorrow. Dan (Vettori) is a great captain, he has been around the scene for such a long time and he understands everything. They are going to be a formidable side. We should make sure that our focus is 100 per cent tomorrow,” he said.
Kiwi skipper Vettori, on the other hand, said it was time his team stopped falling at the semi-final hurdle, as they have done on five previous occasions.
“We are ecstatic to be here and going to try and win rather than trying to think the job’s been done. It is an amazing achievement for a small country to have the record of reaching the semi-finals so many times and our recent experience at ICC tournaments — we reached the Champions Trophy final against Australia — may be a starting point for us in getting past the semis. We’ve got to buck the trend of inconsistency and put two strong performances together,” he said.
Vettori was surprised to learn that the match will be played on the same wicket that was used for the quarter-final.
“It’s surprising that we have to play the semi-final on a used wicket. I would’ve thought it was mandatory to prepare a fresh wicket but apparently not. We assume Sri Lanka are going to go in with the same sort of team as the quarter-final because of the wicket, and it may allow us to play three spinners.
“But they have grown up playing spin, so we’ll have a long look at (fast bowlers Andy) McKay and (Daryl) Tuffey too. We’ll make that decision tomorrow," he said.
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