Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara believes his team’s qualification for the World Cup final can further unite a country finding its feet after the end of a long civil war.
Sri Lanka reached their second successive final, and third in all, with a nervy five-wicket win over New Zealand on Tuesday.
Sangakkara used the opportunity to stress the significance of the win for the country’s cohesion.
Photo: Reuters
“Cricket has always been the panacea that heals all in Sri Lanka, so winning the World Cup final would be huge for the country,” said Sangakarra, who praised his team’s national pride.
“There are times when there is talk of the Indian Premier League, the money involved and everything, but let me tell you, we take pride in playing for our country,” he said. “If you go to the dressing room, you will see that every player has a flag on their seat.”
Sri Lanka, who won their only World Cup in 1996, are desperate to make amends for the disappointment of 2007 when they lost in the final to Australia in Bridgetown.
Photo: AFP
“It means a lot to us, that’s what we have planned for. We missed a great opportunity in 2007,” said the captain, named man of the match in Tuesday’s win over New Zealand. “So, for us, it was important to recreate those opportunities in 2011 and we did.”
Sangakkara, who hit a crucial 54, praised opener Tillakaratne Dilshan, who made 73.
“Dilshan batted brilliantly but we got tense towards the end, basically because Dilshan and I should have finished it off or got us close to the 200-run mark,” Sangakkara said of a collapse which saw the fall of four wickets for just 25 runs.
Thilan Samaraweera (23 not out) and Angelo Mathews (14 not out) saw their team home during an unfinished 35-run stand.
Sangakkara praised spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who took a wicket off the last ball in his last match before a home crowd. The 38-year-old off-spinner will retire after the final on Saturday.
“It was emotional because it was the last World Cup match we were playing in front of our home crowd. It was a very special moment for us, and even more so because it’s the last time for Murali playing on home soil,” he said.
“When the magnitude of the occasion hits you it kind of overwhelms you. It’s much easier playing cricket than realizing that you are going to probably play the last match with the world’s best bowler,” Sangakkara said.
New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori, who stepped down as one-day captain after the game, admitted his team fell just short once again.
The defeat was New Zealand’s sixth failure to go beyond the semi-final stage, after they were restricted to 217.
“I can only speak for this team. I can’t speak for the teams of yesteryear. We just came up short,” Vettori said. “Obviously we are incredibly disappointed. We fought so hard to stay in the tournament but against Sri Lanka we were short of the best.”
“Our top order laid a great platform but each time we lost a wicket we failed to establish a new partnership and we lost lots of wickets in the last 10 overs, after which we ended 20 runs short,” he said.
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