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We'll pick Sanath first and others later
Jayasuriya is still a world beater. His awesome record shows we win 70 per cent of the games where he scores well, writes Marvan Atapattu.
It happens to every team that does well in Australia and it happened to us as well. It happened to us in 1995-96 when we did well in the tri-series. We took the positives from that tour into the World Cup and won it.
It happened to India earlier this year after they beat Australia in a Test match Down Under. They beat Pakistan in Pakistan, a feat that had not been achieved previously. If you do well in Australia, the team morale goes up because you have to fight the Aussies on all fronts.
We were, therefore, happy to take all these positives into our game against India the other day at Dambulla and it showed in our performance. It was a solid all-round show that has further boosted our confidence.
However, now we venture into the unknown --- the Round of Death. We have to win at least two of our three matches in this phase if we want to make the final. Needless to say, there will be no margin for error. Also, we don't want it to leave it for too late. Expectations from the home crowd will be huge and we cannot afford to let them down.
Our first opponent is a formidable Pakistan team that boasts quality bowlers and brilliant batsmen. Their game plan is like Australia's. They rely much on their fast bowlers to deliver. Previously it was Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, nowadays it is Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami.
Pakistan captains not only employ them at the start of the innings and at the death, they are also not averse to bringing them on in short spells in the middle overs in order to get breakthroughs. Our batsmen will have to deal with them.
Lot of people have been asking me, what about Sanath Jayasuriya after he was rested against India.
What about him? Yes, we won the game and the openers did well. So what? Let me put it this way: We will pick Sanath first and choose the other 10 later. Sanath is still a world beater and you don't leave out someone who wins you matches. His awesome record shows that Sri Lanka wins 70 per cent of the games where he scores 40-50 runs. Howzzaat!
The others more or less pick themselves. There is nothing to choose between the two sides. I will be egging my boys on to produce that extra bit that could make the difference between winning and losing. (Café Cricket)
