Sri Lankan coach Paul Farbrace believes the convincing win over New Zealand in their last Super 10 game will boost the side when the take on defending champions West Indies in the first semifinal of the ICC World Twenty20 today.
The Englishman informed his men are very excited to reach the last four stage and look beyond it and for that they will be on their toes against the Caribbean side.
“We came off a magnificent win (against New Zealand). We saw the game last night (Tuesday) (between West Indies and Pakistan). West Indies are an excellent side playing very good cricket. Preparation for the game tomorrow (today) should be as good as it possibly can be. This is where we want to be. This is what players play for, semi finals, finals of world cup competition and we are very excited,” said Paul during the pre-match conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. The two sides met last month in a warm-up game where the Lankans lost by 33 runs following. However, Paul informed that the result does not matter as they fielded few of their main players in that game and experimented with the lineup. “We didn’t play a couple of our main bowlers; we left two bowlers out on purpose to give others opportunities. The last game will have no bearing whatsoever, 20-20, is whoever, turns up on that particular day. Form goes out of the window in 20-20 and as we seen that three or four overs from one particular player with bat or ball, can change and win a game.
“It’s very much about making sure we are ready, we are focused, we play our very best game as possibly as we can. As I said form goes out of the window. It won’t even be talked about I assure you,” said Paul who was among the casualties during the infamous 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Pakistan. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene are two dependent names in the Sri Lankan batting unit. However, a defeat today will see the duo, who already announced to retire after the mega event, end their Twenty20 career with a disappointment.
“Mahela played a fantastic innings against England, Sanga (Sangakkara) is a dangerous player, and you always expect big things from them and they never let their team or country down,” said Paul.
“They are fantastic to have in the team as well. They are world class people as well as world class players. There was nobody more pumped up before the New Zealand fielding innings than Mahela. He was so pumped up he almost knocked me over. And you could see his body language on the field, how desperate he was to do well. Whether it’s their last competition or not in this form, they have been absolutely brilliant,” informed Paul.