Struggling Sri Lanka to play with ‘freedom’

Newly-appointed Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said yesterday the struggling islanders would benefit at the World Twenty20 from being free of the burden of expectation that usually surrounds the side.  
The defending champions have slumped to eighth in the T20 rankings and come into the World T20 in India following a disastrous showing at the Asia Cup in Bangladesh. Few commentators have given them much hope of successfully defending their title in the sixth edition of the shortest form of the game’s world championship and that’s something Mathews welcomes.
“From the outside no one is really giving us a chance and that’s a good thing,” he told reporters in Mumbai at Sri Lanka’s opening press conference of the 16-team tournament.  
“We can play with a lot of freedom and that’s what I expect from the team. I’m sure if we do play with a lot of freedom then we’ll beat most teams,” the skipper added.  Mathews replaced the injured Lasith Malinga as captain earlier this week, just hours before the Sri Lankans were due to leave for India.  
Malinga presided over a dismal showing in the Asia Cup where Sri Lanka were beaten by the hosts, little-fancied Bangladesh, and only just scraped past the United Arab Emirates. Sri Lanka are due to begin their defence of the World Twenty20 trophy on Wednesday, March 17, when they play one of the two minnows who are taking part in a preliminary round taking place this week.
A serious question hangs over the availability of Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka’s most experienced T20 bowler, for the first game of their campaign in India. But Mathews said he could only hope the 32-year-old Malinga would be fit. Before that game, Sri Lanka have two warm-up games on March 10 and 14 - New Zealand in Mumbai and Pakistan in Kolkata - but Malinga won’t play those fixtures.
“We are hoping Lasith would be fit for the first game,” Mathews said. “As of now he won’t be playing the practice games. We want him to rest and recover because we know the quality he has in him - he can train a couple of days and walk straight into a match. So we are hoping that he’ll get a couple of net sessions before the first game. That is only a hope. We don’t really know what the doctors and physios (have on) the current situation.”
Malinga did not travel to India with the Sri Lanka squad, remaining at home to focus on his rehab. He has had an injured left knee for a while now and returned to competitive cricket after a three-month layoff only to play one match in the recent Asia Cup. Subsequently he stepped down as Sri Lanka’s Twenty20 captain because he could not guarantee being fit for the entire WT20.
“It is unfortunate that Malinga is not fit as yet so he had to take that call. But he is a very vital, very important person in our team so we kept him in the squad hoping that he will be able to play the first game.”
While Sri Lanka won the last World Twenty20 in Bangladesh in 2014, the team has been badly weakened by the retirements of star batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene and have struggled to fill the void they left.
Sri Lanka’s sports minister sacked the panel of selectors on Tuesday and appointed a new team who immediately made two changes to the squad, replacing Jeffrey Vandersay and Niroshan Dickwella with Lahiru Thirimanne and Suranga Lakmal.
“The morale in the team is quite good. We can’t say we are all depressed or moaning about the Asia Cup. It’s done and dusted,” said Mathews.
“Now it’s a matter of going out there and expressing ourselves.”