India is a hard place to play cricket; will miss Rangana Herath - Angelo Mathews
Speaking after arriving in India for the 5-match ODI series, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews told ESPNcricinfo that his side will miss the services of Lasith Malinga and Rangana Herath. The skipper also added that India is a hard place to play cricket and extremely difficult to face the World Champions without proper training.
"Those two are the backbone of our bowling line-up and we don't have many experienced guys on this tour," Mathews said in Mumbai of the rested Herath and injured Malinga. The pacer is recovering from an ankle surgery.
"But we know this is a hard place to play cricket. We all will learn from this tour,” the all-rounder said ahead of the hastily organised tour. However, the 27-year-old is hopeful that other bowlers will step up to fill in for the veteran left-arm spinner.
"Rangana Herath will certainly be missed. He is one of the most experienced players but it lets us give an opportunity to youngsters like Seekkuge Prasanna, Suraj Randiv and Chathuranga de Silva," said Mathews.
The right-hander once again stressed on the fact that they were not ready for this tour as they were concentrating on improving their fitness ahead of the long season that ends with the World Cup 2015. Yet, his team will use these matches to settle in on a combination for the global event.
"Not that we were reluctant to play this series. It's not the ideal kind of preparation for a tour to India. India is a tough place to play cricket in and you need preparation to play India in India, especially. We had been focusing a lot on our fitness over the last one and half months and suddenly this tour came up, so we had to take it. We'll take this as an opportunity to get our combinations right for the World Cup,” Mathews clarified.
Youngsters should accept responsibility
Newly appointed head coach Marvan Atapattu said the experienced pair of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene will need assistance apart from a reliable Mathews to compete against the home side.
"If some of the other players in our batting line-up except the two senior players and the captain can take up the burden, we will do better," Atapattu said when asked about the specific areas he would like to improve in the coming series. "It's easy for me to say all areas but specifically if we can get up to better level in terms of fielding that will be good. Of course bowling is another area which demands a lot of skill these days with all the restrictions."
India are also without their regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, given a break after some non-stop cricket and injured pacer Mohammed Shami.