Johannesburg - Zimbabwe captain, Elton Chigumbura Chigumbura said his team had a plan to tackle off-spinner Muralidaran, who has taken the most One-Day wickets, and slinger Malinga, who took a career-best 6-38, including a hat-trick, against Kenya last week. Sri Lanka ‘s whole attack has match-winners with Murali and Malinga obviously the big names, they are experienced and they know their conditions well and will use them to the best of their abilities. We have just got to make sure we play them properly and stop them getting wickets, especially in their first spells, said Chigumbura from India .
He remained confident of a positive result despite history pitting the Asians as favourites. Zimbabwe , who have never beaten Sri Lanka in four previous World Cup matches, need a win to stay in hunt for a quarter-final place from Group A, which is topped by New Zealand ahead of Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Australia .
Zimbabwe have two points from their win over Canada while they lost to New Zealand and Australia. It is a very important game as we only have two points. We will be looking to play our best cricket against Sri Lanka and to do that we need to make a competitive score against their quality bowlers, said Chigumbura.
Sri Lanka are aware any upset would leave them in danger of missing out on the knockout phase. The 1996 winners and 2007 runners-up have five points from four games and need a win to ensure they reach the quarter-finals. They face extra pressure as their last match is away against New Zealand in Mumbai.
Post published in: Zimbabwe Sports News