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Wily Jayawardene eyes the World Cup

Colombo, Oct 5: After beating Pakistan in the crucial semifinal on Thursday night, Sri Lanka are just one step towards winning the ICC T20 World Cup, with captain Mahela Jayawardene saying he is fully confident

India TV News Desk Published : Oct 05, 2012 21:23 IST, Updated : Oct 05, 2012 21:24 IST
wily jayawardene eyes the world cup
wily jayawardene eyes the world cup

Colombo, Oct 5: After beating Pakistan in the crucial semifinal on Thursday night, Sri Lanka are just one step towards winning the ICC T20 World Cup, with captain Mahela Jayawardene saying he is fully confident of winning the cup. 





Sri Lanka has failed to win the World Cup in the last three tournaments.  

It made the final of two successive 50-over World Cups in 2007 and 2011, and also the World Twenty20 in 2009, but was unable to win the trophy.  

Says Jayawardene, playing the final on home soil in front of fans gives him hope that the team would finally turn the corner.  

"It's an amazing feeling," he said. "We are all really happy to be part of a very successful group over a period of time.  

"We have been blessed with four now - although I know we haven't won anything. "But four finals, it's amazing. In one's career you are lucky enough to play in one final. We are a proud nation and everyone will be behind us on Sunday."

Jayawardene says his team's strategy on Sunday will be different from previous finals.  

"They have all had to be approached in different ways," he said. "One final was in Barbados (2007), one in England (2009) and one was in Mumbai (2011).  

"Now we are playing in the Premadasa, so we will approach it differently.  

"We play with a very positive mindset. We spoke at the start of the tournament that we would have to play on three different surfaces in Hambantota, Pallekele and now Colombo.  

"We had to adapt. It is all about handling tough situations better."

Sri Lanka have lost just one of their six games in the tournament so far.

Eyebrows were raised when Kumar Sangakkara took up the captaincy for the Super Eights match against England in Pallekele last Monday, even though both Jayawardene and vice-captain Angelo Mathews were part of the playing eleven.

Jayawardene explained later the change was made to prevent him and Mathews from missing out on the semi-finals since both of them were already serving a one-match notice for slow over rates.  

But Jayawardene was back at the helm in the semi-final against Pakistan, emerging the main scorer with a polished 42 at the top of the order.  

He will again lead on Sunday determined to set the record straight.
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