India won’t relax against Sri Lanka as semis loom

LEEDS: Dinesh Karthik insists India won’t take it easy in their last World Cup league-round match against Sri Lanka on Saturday because the title contenders want to go into the semi-finals on a high.

Virat Kohli’s side has won six of their eight games after beating Bangladesh in their previous outing to seal a semi-final berth.

Rather than rest on their laurels, India batsman Karthik, who made his World Cup debut against Bangladesh, is adamant the team plan to fine-tune their game at Headingley this weekend.

“For all the four teams that qualify, it’s going to be a massive game (the semi-finals). So that’s in the back of the mind,” Karthik told reporters on Friday. “But having said that, I think we’re professional enough to go out there against Sri Lanka and play a very clinical game.

“There is scope for improvement in all aspects of our game. We’ve been playing a good tournament until now, but I’m sure personally each player would have some box to tick.”

Defending champions Australia, two-time winners India and England and New Zealand have booked their semi-final places ahead of Saturday’s last league games.

India, who are second in a table currently topped by Australia, need to beat Sri Lanka to leapfrog Aaron Finch’s side.

They also need help from eliminated South Africa, who would have to beat Australia later on Saturday at Old Trafford for India to end in top spot.

Karthik insisted India, who will take on either New Zealand at Old Trafford on Tuesday or England two days later, have no preference for their semi-final opponents.

“It’s hard for me to say, obviously, which team will be a threat. But on any given day any team can stand up. And that’s the beauty of a tournament like a World Cup,” Karthik said. “We’re really looking forward to it as a team. At the same time, I think we have a game to play in Leeds. We’ll do the best we can come Saturday.”

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne has urged his country’s cricket chiefs to help more players enter overseas Twenty20 leagues to make up for the limitations of their domestic structure.

Sri Lanka have failed to replicate their 1996 World Cup triumph in the current tournament, with the retirements of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara leaving them short of top-class talent.

“In Sri Lanka we have one domestic season. The players have only one chance to showcase their talent in a particular domestic season and we can identify players only that season,” Karunaratne told reporters. “We have to close that gap [between domestic and international cricket]. We have to give a chance to the players to play in IPL, Big Bash or county cricket.”

Karunaratne’s team revived their flagging World Cup campaign by upsetting hosts England, but they soon suffered a loss to South Africa that shattered their last four hopes.

Karunaratne though has still taken out positives from the campaign as he singled out Avishka Fernando as a future star.

“Avishka Fernando is doing really good. In the last three games, he showed that he can produce some runs for Sri Lanka and he is one of the future stars,” he said.

Fernando, 21, hit his maiden international century in the team’s third win of the tournament against the West Indies on Monday, but that was not enough to make the semi-final cut.