sri lanKa...rewind back to the paaaAAAst...how can one forget the huGe impaCt made by this team in the '96 cUP. Until then they were mere passengers in the world of crikKEt! It was the agressive captaincy of Ranatunga and his able deputy Aravinda De silva ably supported by the trio of Jayasuriya, Kaluwitharna and Murli which made this happen. Ever since then, the sri lanKans were never the same! They went on to become one of the cricketing power houses! If it was Martin Crowe who adopted the strategy of utilizing the first 15 overs by promoting Greatbatch in the '92 edition, it was Ranatunga who has fine tuned the strategy of how to clinically destroy the opposition in the first 15 overs by employing the marauD ers Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharna to the task, who has done the job to perfection!
Ever since the marauD eRs have claimed the trophy in '96, the team has improved to the better.The sri lanKans in the '99 cUP have witnessed a shock elimination from the suPer 6 but they have done much better in the next edition (2003) reaching the seMis. It is not wrong to quote that the sri lanKans dominated the first part of the seMis with the mighty auSSies in the 2003 edition! On a given day, sri lanKa is tHe team which is very much capable of beating the best on a consistent basis. It remains to be seen how the 2007 edition folds up for the marauD eRs!
The present teaM is very much capable of repeating the feat of '96 taking into consideration the balance of the team which has good blend of experience and youth. The batting at the top is in the able and trusted hands of the veteRan Jayasuriya and an able ally in Tharanga, followed by the trio of Jayawardena, Sangakkara and Attapattu. It is good to see Arnold back into the batting ranks of the middle order which would be very handy. Dilshan is an all-rounder who can bowl his skiddy off-spinners and bat with elan! The lower order boasts of the hurricane all rounder Maharoof and Vaas who too can bat a bit. The boWling looks more promising with the agile Vaas and the wily Muralitharan. The support cast is good with the pacy Malinga and the consistent Kulasekhara.
Now it needs to be seen how quickly this sri lanKan team can adapt on the tracks in the caRRibean(which suits them very well) to repeat their '96 performance! All said and done, I would still rate them 4th favorite in my list to win this 9th edition of the coVeted tropHY!
We will discuss about the 3rd favorite team to win the cUP tomorrow...until then goOd eVening and gOoD luCk.
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