Kumar Sangakkara happy playing outside Sri Lanka, terms Indian pitches ‘more balanced’
Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara has said that the pitches in India are ‘more balanced’ as compared to the tracks back in Sri Lanka which slow down considerably as the match progresses. The Islanders are scheduled to play their last group match in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820
on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/March-c74391 18, their first game of the tournament outside Sri Lanka.
The wicketkeeper batsman feels that batting first in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 is always a huge advantage as the pitches offer a lot of assistance to the spinners in the second innings and naturally the toss becomes extremely important, which should not be the case in international
cricket.
"I personally feel that pitches in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 are more balanced as the condition of the wicket more or less remains the same throughout the game. On the other hand, in Sri Lanka teams batting first always have an advantage since the pitch invariably slows down
as the match progresses," he said.
The Sri Lankan captain also feels that playing in front of a big home crowd usually results in additional pressure. Sangakkara is happy playing their final group match outside home but he wants to win this encounter for all the fans back home.
"Sometimes, not having a huge crowd and their expectations, may make things a bit easier, But we love playing in front of our crowd. Their support really lifts us and we will miss them but at the same time, we know that if we win on Friday, we can gift something
special to them," he added.
The fixture against the Black Caps is extremely important for Sri Lanka as a loss will mean that the Islanders will finish at number four in the points table of group B and as a result will take on the best team of group A in the quarter-final. Similarly,
the Kiwis also want to beat Sri Lanka in order to give themselves a chance of finishing at the top of their pool.
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