Lankans were the champions last time when the world cup was held in the sub-continent and 15 years hence they are still one of the strongest teams in the sub-continent. They are a tough nut to crack in home conditions and with opportunity presenting that they have to play away only should they reach the world cup final they are in the position of control.They do not have Matara Mauler(Sanath Jayasuriya) in their line up this time who introduced to the world how to bat out the opponent in the first fifteen overs but they have Tillekaratne Dilshan who is as good and could for the job. His opening partner upul tharanga has been in prime form in home. So they make a good opening setup which would make srilankan stalwarts kumar sangakkara and Mahela jayawardane.The presence of samaraweera,chamara silva and chamara kapugedera who can step up when needed also strengthenes the middle order which can be a final free stroke by Angelo Matthews-a fine allrounder the srilankans have discovered in the past 4 years.
It is the bowling department which possess a great challenge to the other teams.With the three M’s (Malinga ,Muralitharan.Mendis) it proves a great challenge to the opposition to get that great start nor the final onslaught .They do have a great bench strength in Kulasekara,Fernando(only one of them could make the final 11),thissara perera and rangana hereath .
With the world cup being held in the own backyard srilanka have a great chance to win it one more time and bid a great adieu to Muralitharan.
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