Sri Lanka ventures away from home turf for the first time in this World Cup when it takes on injury-depleted New Zealand in Friday’s crunch game in Group A.
Both teams have qualified for the quarterfinals but Friday’s winner will be guaranteed at least a top-two finish, with the final placings to be decided the following day when Australia takes on Pakistan.
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has expressed his surprise that the game was scheduled at Mumbai’s refurbished Wankhede Stadium, which will also host the April 2 final. India has played one away game — against fellow co-host Bangladesh, which hasn’t had to leave home territory at all.
“Being the host, usually the host nation plays at home but that’s the way game goes,” Sangakarra said. “Wherever we play, whatever conditions we face, we got to be able to be up to the task.
“It could be a negative that you can turn into a real positive for your side because if you win in alien conditions it does that much better for your confidence.”
Sri Lanka may be away from home, but organisers are predicting a bumper crowd of 25Â 000 at the 33Â 442-capacity stadium for a game between two sides who have played 72 times before, and seven times in the World Cup.
Injuries
Skipper Daniel Vettori (knee) and opening new ball paceman Kyle Mills (thigh) are both expected to be sidelined for New Zealand with injuries, but stand-in skipper Ross Taylor doesn’t think that diminishes the team’s chances.
“Obviously it’s disappointing not to have them on the team, but that gives somebody else a chance to step up and perform their role. It’ll also show what character our team is made of,” Taylor said.
New Zealand has the advantage of already having played at the stadium, in Sunday’s win over Canada, and is coming into form at the right time.
Following consecutive limited-overs series defeats by India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, New Zealand was soundly beaten by Australia in its second game of the World Cup but has bounced back with wins over Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Canada.
“We’ve got some good confidence in the team. After winning a few games, that has been continually going up,” Taylor said Wednesday. “It’s an important match leading into a quarterfinal. If you win, you obviously get a lot more confidence and take some momentum into the quarterfinal. If you lose, it halts it a little bit.”
The Black Caps are hopeful that Vettori and Mills will return for the quarterfinal, but have asked medium-fast bowler Daryl Tuffey to join the squad as cover.
Sri Lanka lies a point behind New Zealand going into the game, having lost to Pakistan and shared the points with Australia after that match was abandoned.
The co-host will be hoping the likes of quick bowler Lasith Malinga and spinner Muttiah Muralitharan can prevent New Zealand’s potentially explosive batsmen from cutting loose.
The Kiwis have scored more than 300 in their last two matches, with Brendon McCullum and Taylor in particular hitting form.
“Guys are just performing their roles consistently, we’ve seen guys get hundreds, the top order is doing their job, and we’ve had wickets in hand going into the powerplays,” allrounder Jacob Oram said. “We’ve got to keep doing that against the best sides in the world.” — Sapa-AP