Mendis is a genuine match-winner

The Bridgeford Road in Nottingham on Monday night might well have been a street in Colombo with all the tooting car horns and waving Sri Lanka flags. It was a fantastic atmosphere we savoured the moment having outplayed Australia. That was the start and not the end of the ICC World Twenty20, but our win against West Indies suggests that we have been able to carry that energy forward. Hopefully, the same will happen against Pakistan tomorrow as well. As captain, though, I am naturally delighted that we have started this tournament so positively considering the tough group in which we were placed. I knew we had the skills and ability to top the group, it was just a matter of whether we had the self-belief on the match days - we answered that emphatically showing just how close-knit a unit we have become. I know there were many that had written us off after the warm-up games, but to be honest that was not a big concern for me. Sri Lanka has never had a good record in warm-up games ahead of big tournaments. Not sure why that it is, except perhaps because we focus on what they are meant for - preparation. Special mention needs to be made for the spinners, Ajantha (Mendis) and Murali. They really throttled Australia in the middle order as well as the potentially murderous West Indian hitters. They are magicians and they give us an x-factor. In Twenty20 cricket. You need to attack, and to have that unpredictability and mystery is a big bonus. Mendis' early breakthroughs dragged us back into the game and then Murali bowled three extremely tight overs that forced mistakes at the other end. I was surprised that he did not play more games for the Koltata Knight Riders during the IPL. If used properly, Mendis is a genuine match-winner. However, like several other of our guys who did not get consistent games, he gained a great deal from the IPL, rubbing shoulders with the world's best players, training hard and learning to innovate. There is no doubt that the IPL has helped keep them on their toes. I was also impressed with the composure of Isuru Udana, our new left-armer, on his debut. He has very little experience but he showed a good match head and rose to the challenge using all of his variations and slower balls. Lasith (Malinga) bounced back really well from his injury, and he is really exceptional at the death. Tillakaratne (Dilshan), one of the guys who has gained a great deal of confidence from the IPL, gave us the perfect platform with some superb strokeplay. He set up the win for us against Australia, and carried that same aggression into Wednesday's game as well. All in all it has been a good start for us and I was very proud of the guys. But we cannot get ahead of ourselves. Tomorrow's challenge is Pakistan and every game is really crucial from hereon. We'll take it one match at a time and aim to play with the same intensity, passion and self-belief that we showed in the last two games. (Gameplan)

Name

Content

To

From

Email id *