Kumar Sangakkara celebrated his first stint as Sri Lanka’s captain by dumping Australia from the World Twenty20, then warned rivals he was hungry for more scalps.
“I can’t ask for more, but this is just the start. We want to continue in the same vein,” he said after the six-wicket win over Australia at Trent Bridge on Monday night.
The left-hander himself led from the front with an unbeaten 55, building on the robust 53 off 32 balls by Tillakaratne Dilshan, as Sri Lanka surpassed Australia’s 159-9 with six balls to spare.
PHOTO: AFP
Ricky Ponting’s men, beaten by the West Indies in their first match, bowed out of the tournament with their fifth successive Twenty20 defeat.
Sri Lanka and the West Indies, who take the two Super Eights places from the group, play each other in the inconsequential last league match today.
“We don’t want to take anything easy,” Sangakkara said. “We want to beat the West Indies also, so that we are on a roll going into the Super Eights.”
Australia, sent in to bat on an even-paced wicket, managed only 159-9 in good batting conditions as mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis and fast bowler Lasith Malinga claimed three wickets each.
Jehan Mubarak hit 21 not out to keep his captain company till the end, which came when Mitchell Johnson sent down a wide off the first delivery of the final over.
Sangakkara said the stint in the Indian Premier League for many Sri Lankan players was a boon.
“Even if you don’t get a chance to play many games in the IPL, one learns from watching the greats, learn to be innovative, which is so essential in Twenty20 cricket,” he said.
Sangakkara’s team was greeted at Trent Bridge by some 100 people waving banners in protest against what they claimed was killing of innocent Tamils by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the war against the Tamil Tigers.
Asked to react on the protests, the captain said: “We are here to play cricket. Anything else does not bother us.”
Ponting made no attempt to hide his frustration and disappointment before turning with typical pragmatism to the next task in hand.
Australia, said Ponting, would analyze their failures and turn their full attention to their Ashes defense starting in Cardiff on July 8.
“Our Test cricket has been the shining light in the past few months,” he said. “I have never been a big one about believing in success carrying from one series to another, particularly when it is in different forms of the game.”
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