Sri Lankans out to redeem lost prestige (6 November 1998)

6 November 1998

Sri Lankans out to redeem lost prestige

Christopher Dhambarage

SHARJAH - World champions Sri Lanka are out to redeem some of their lost prestige when they take on India in the curtain-raiser of the Coca Cola Champions trophy triangular cricket tournament match at the Sharjah grounds, on Friday.

Both teams were knocked out from the semi-finals of the Wills Mini World Cup held in Dhaka recently. The Indians were surprised by the West Indies while Sri Lanka went down to the South Africans.

However the Sri Lanka team is quite confident and they are determined to lift the Coca Cola Champions trophy. In addition they are out to avenge their previous defeat which they suffered in the Nidahas trophy tournament final in Colombo recently.

The only setback for the Sri Lankan team is the absence of ace off spinner Muttaiah Muralitharan who is nursing a shoulder injury. Muralitharan was named as the best bowler in the previous tournament held here in 1997.

In the absence of Muralitharan, all rounder Thilan Samaraweera who has represented the Sri Lanka 'A' side for quite some time is in contention for a place. But the Sri Lankans will be hoping to strengthen their pace attack too by including Pramodaya Wickremasinghe. Wickremasinghe missed both the quarter final and the semifinal games of the Wills tournament held in Dhaka.

But depending on the conditions the Lankans would not mind including an extra batsman into their line up. Hard hitting opening batsman Avishka Gunawardena is the most suitable candidate for this place following some significant contributions for the Sri Lanka 'A' team in the past.

This will be Sri Lanka's third appearance in Sharjah since winning the World Cup in March 1996. Of the two appearances since 1996 in the most popular neutral venue in the world, Sri Lanka won one tournament, the Champions trophy. Their only other title in Sharjah was just before they won the World cup in 1995 where they beat the West Indies in the final.

But until then, Sri Lanka had an unimpressive record in Sharjah. Overall, Sri Lanka have played 43 one day internationals in Sharjah and won 13 of them while losing 30. Zimbabwe are the third team competing in this tournament. The three teams will play each other twice each before the top two teams will play in the final on November 13.

This will be the 13th one day international tournament that Sri Lanka team will be taking part after winning the Wills World Cup in 1996. They have won five of the 12 previous tournaments after March, 1996.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)