The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Jayasuriya brushes aside retirement talk

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Tuesday, Feb 06, 2007
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Jayasuriya brushes aside retirement talk

Mumbai: Flamboyant Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya on Monday brushed aside talk of any immediate retirement plans after the World Cup and said he was working hard on his fitness and enjoying the game.

"I am enjoying the game and working hard on the physical aspect of my game. I am working hard on my fitness." said the former Lanka skipper after his team's practise session at the Bandra-Kurla complex here.

`Great performer'

The left-handed opener, one of the chief architects of the islanders' only World Cup triumph in 1996, said it was good to see Indian ace Sachin Tendulkar back in form.

"Tendulkar has always been a great performer. It was good to see his performance in the last one-dayer (against the West Indies at Vadodara) and now in Mumbai (Ranji Trophy final against Bengal)," said the man nicknamed Matara Marauder.

Tendulkar cracked a superb century batting in the middle order against the Windies and then followed it up with a crucial century knock to pull Mumbai out of a difficult situation on the first day of the Ranji final.

High expectations

Jayasuriya, a veteran of 375 ODIs in which he had scored over 11,400 runs, said it was understandable why people are quick to jump on the bandwagon and criticise players like Tendulkar and himself when their form dips a bit.

"When we have reached such a high level, people's expectations will always be high," he said. — PTI

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