The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Don't panic, says Sangakkara

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Don't panic, says Sangakkara

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara has urged his team not to panic after slipping to defeat against Pakistan, as he looks to get its World Cup campaign back on track with victory over Kenya on Tuesday.

“We have Kenya next, followed by Australia, so we will look back on the defeat and learn from our mistakes which is very important,” said Sangakkara.

“There are a few things we can learn. Bowling a better line and length is important and when we bat partnerships are important and we shouldnt panic,” added the skipper, who scored 49 against Pakistan.

The top four teams from each group will qualify for the quarterfinals and Sangakkara emphasised the need to keep improving as the tournament progresses.

“We are just going to keep preparing and keep playing as best we know how. There's a long way to go in this tournament so we just have got to keep plugging on and make sure that we perform as well as we can,” said Sangakkara.

Sangakkara said spearhead Lasith Malinga — who has missed both matches due to a back strain — was making good progress.

“We can say we missed Lasith a bit but... we restricted them (Pakistan) to a gettable total, so in the next games we need to make sure we don't lose a cluster of wickets,” said Sangakkara.

Sri Lanka lost to Kenya at the 2003 World Cup, when the African side went on to reach the semifinals, but that is its only defeat in five clashes between the two nations.

Kenya has four survivors from that match in Nairobi — senior batsman Steve Tikolo, Collins Obuya, Thomas Odoyo and Peter Ongondo — but the team looks a pale shadow of that side at the current tournament, slipping to two heavy defeats so far.

Captain Jimmy Kamande said every member of the team needed to perform in Colombo.

“We need all eleven players to perform, which has not happened in the last two matches, especially against New Zealand,” said Kamande, whose team was shot out for 69 against the Black Caps in Chennai in its opening match.

“We are still in this tournament and what we need is to do well against Sri Lanka which is a very strong team,” said Kamande, who rued missed chances against Pakistan during a crushing 205-run defeat.

Lack of experience

“There have been good situations but we spoiled them and it showed a lack of experience,” said Kamande.

“Four of Pakistan's batsmen got half-centuries, and one New Zealand bowler destroyed us, so we need not committing the same mistakes.

“Sri Lanka have some good spinners so we have to deal with them, and fight well.”

Word of caution

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene admitted on Sunday that Kenya, which defeated his team in a stunning 2003 World Cup triumph, still has players to cause another shock when the two meet on Tuesday. — Agencies

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