Lankan batsmen ready to take on their spin king

There’s an interesting contest building up between Muttiah Muralitharan, captain Mahela Jayawardene and vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara, reports Subhash Rajta.

There’s an nice and interesting contest building up ahead of the Mohali and Chennai game on Saturday – the one between Muttiah Muralitharan, and his captain Mahela Jayawardene and vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara.

HT Image

After the jovial Chennai spinner expressed his desire to knock off Jayawardene and Sangakkara on the very first ball the other day, the duo responded saying they too were looking forward to get the better of the spin wizard.

“He is a tough guy and always wants to do well, no matter which team he is playing for. And that’s exactly what we would be doing. So it should be pretty interesting, and we are looking forward to get the better of him,” said Mahela Jayawardene.

Echoing the views of his skipper, Sangakkara added: “He is indeed special and it should be really interesting facing him. I have faced him just once in domestic cricket and that too way back in the past. So, it would be a new challenge. Hopefully we can get the better of him,” said Sangakkara.

The elegant left-hander refused to accept that he was in a better position than the rest of the batsmen to handle Muralitharan, considering he has kept for the spinner for long and reads him quite well. “It’s one thing to read him and quite different to play him. It doesn’t matter how well you read him, you still have to hit the ball, so let’s see how it goes,” he said.

The duo, who arrived in Chandigarh straight after finishing the West Indies series, brushed aside suggestions that they would be tired for their first game. “Physically it’s quite draining when you travel a lot, but if you get proper recovery and are fit enough, you soon get over the fatigue. I think we should be fine for the game, especially when the format is so exciting,” said Sangakkara.