One of the favourites for the trophy, Sri Lanka kickstarts its World Cup campaign against minnows Canada, well aware that any slip-up could cause embarrassment at the hands of a side which would be eager to prove its worth at the biggest stage of cricket here tomorrow.
The two sides will face-off at the new Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota, located in the south of the island nation.
Sri Lanka is one of the favourites to win the World Cup, but captain Kumar Sangakkara said he’s not looking too far ahead. Sangakkara said he prefers to take one game at a time.
“More than the last match (final), we need to do well in the first match which is tomorrow. That’s the most important thing. Our job is to try and win the first game more than try and win the tournament,” Sangakkara said.
“You can’t take Canada lightly. If you take the warm-up game they played against England, they lost only by 16 runs.
Every team raises the game when the World Cup comes and we need to raise our game and if we do that we can do well,” Sangakkara reminded.
The Sri Lankans will go into the game without knowing what the conditions will offer. None of their players have played at the venue, which has hosted two domestic games and another game between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and Pakistan ‘A’.
“This is the second time we are coming here and when we see the ground, it looks nice. When I got down, I was surprised to see the progress they have made. We trained at the ground and there doesn’t seem to be any issues. We need to play well whatever the conditions that we get,” Sangakkara said.
The Sri Lankan captain who has played in two World Cup tournaments will be leading the side for the first time.
“It’s a great privilege and an honour, not just to captain a World Cup team, but to captain this particular team.
They are a wonderful bunch of guys and the best we have in Sri Lanka,” he said.
