Mumbai, Nov 1 (IANS): When it comes to the Men's ODI World Cup, India has been a happy hunting ground for Sri Lanka as they won their only title so far in 1996 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and reached the final in 2011 losing to India in the final at the Wankhede Stadium.
So, when they take on hosts India in a key match of ICC Men's ODI World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday, Sri Lanka will be hoping to summon the spirit of those performances and get the better of table-toppers India and maintain their chances of qualifying for the semifinals.
Sri Lanka chief coach Chris Silverwood said his players are aware of the historic importance of playing against India at the Wankhede and would bring their A-Game to the match on Thursday.
"Yeah, the boys are very aware of the history, to be honest. Obviously, players do talk about past history of their team as well and the results that they've had. But I mean, let's be honest, it's a great stadium. We walked in today and the first thing you do is go, wow, this is a great place to play cricket. And when you stood out in the middle, you get that sort of goose bumps. So, for me, there's plenty of things out there to motivate them to go perform in front of what will be a packed house tomorrow as well," said Silverwood in the pre-match press conference, hoping that his players will be able to perform at their best in the match.
That is what Sri Lanka has not been able to do so far in this World Cup and are therefore languishing at the seventh position in the points table.
They have won only two matches ai far and lost four. Particularly disappointing for them was the defeat they suffered against Afghanistan in Pune on October 30.
"Yeah, I mean, obviously the team, all of us were very disappointed the other night after that result. That's not to take anything away from Afghanistan. I thought they played superb cricket on the night and showed that they are a progressing team and they're very capable of beating people. But for us, again, we had a very good chat in the dressing room afterwards, addressed some of the issues that we felt we had and then we've come here and we're trying to put that right in practice now. So, we'll be ready for tomorrow,' said Silverwood.