DHAKA: It’s only possible for a West Indies captain to say that a World Cup semifinal is “just another game” but then Darren Sammy is different from most of the other international cricket skippers.
Asked whether their triumph in the 2012 final will have an effect on Thursday’s semifinal against Sri Lanka, Sammy said, in his inimitable deep baritone, “For us it’s another game of cricket. Cricket is not about what happens before the game. It’s about what happens on a cricket field on that present day,” Sammy said.
“We defeated them (Sri Lanka) in the World Cup (2012 final) and in the practice game here but they have played some good cricket and we have a lot of respect for them.”
Both Sri Lanka and West Indies have had identical victories in their final group league encounters in which they crushed their respective opponents for paltry scores of less than 100 runs.
Both the sides boast of world class spinners who are winning games on a consistent basis.
While Rangana Herath will want to repeat his Chittagong heroics with another superlative effort against Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara will be equally wary of the threats that will be posed by Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree.
Sri Lanka have good memories of the Shere-e-Bangla Stadium as they lifted the Asia Cup at this ground not even a month ago. (PTI)
