Former Sri Lanka all-rounder Farveez Maharoof feels India will start as favourites in the upcoming ODI series but expects the hosts to "pull their socks up and put up a fight" following a disappointing England tour.
Sri Lanka and India will square off in three ODIs and three T20Is, beginning July 13. Ahead of the series, Maharoof admitted that he was disappointed to see Sri Lanka going down against England in the recently concluded tour.
"Whenever India comes to Sri Lanka, it's a massive series. It was a disappointing last series for Sri Lanka as they lost five games in England. The performance has not been that great when it comes to batting, bowling wise yes there are some positives," Maharoof told ANI.
"But batting has been an issue for Sri Lanka in a little while. In the past few months batting has let us down massively. So leading into the series, yes definitely India will start as favourites and Sri Lanka will go as underdogs, so hopefully, our boys pull their socks up and put up a fight," he added.
Former Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews has opted out of the upcoming series and Maharoof said the experience of the all-rounder was a key for the hosts as they were playing at home.
"His (Mathews) experience will definitely be missed especially when playing against India. At home, we needed that experience in the middle but having said that, this new selection committee has made it clear they want to give more chances to youngsters.
"But there are chances that some of the senior players would be called for the Indian series, the squad has not been named for the tour so we don't know how things will pan out as there was a contractual issue too previously," he added.
While Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been named vice-captain, Shikhar Dhawan will lead the team which will be coached by former skipper Rahul Dravid. The first ODI can be watched live on July 13 on SONY TEN 1 and SONY SIX in English and SONY TEN 3 in Hindi from 2.30 pm IST.
Former Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga had criticised the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board for letting India send their 'second-string' team while the main team stayed back in England to play the Test series which commences in August.
But Maharoof feels it was a "smart" decision to pick a different squad for the white-ball series considering the COVID-19 pandemic and all the travel restrictions in place.
"If I look at the Indian team, half of the squad has played international cricket, I mean more than half of the team and also with the quarantine protocols, bubbles, and all these travel restrictions if you have a bigger squad to choose from sometimes it's smart to do it," Maharoof explained.
"Being in a bubble for a long time is mentally not easy for a player. So I reckon if you have the luxury of picking different players for different formats, you got to do it especially with this pandemic and all these protocols," he added.
Prior to 2015, Sri Lanka was a major force to reckon with in international cricket across all formats. The side reached the finals of 2007 and 2011 ODI World Cups respectively and was the semi-finalist in the 2003 World Cup.
Sri Lanka had also reached the final of the 2009 T20 World Cup but faced a defeat at the hands of a potent Pakistan squad. Five years later, the side under the leadership of Lasith Malinga clinched the T20 World Cup. However, since the departure of heavyweights like Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Malinga, Sri Lanka has struggled to win matches even against non-Test playing nations.
Maharoof is "disheartened" to see how things have rolled out for Sri Lanka Cricket in the last few years. The former all-rounder shied away from mentioning reasons for the downfall of Sri Lanka.
"It's definitely sad and disheartening to see the decline. If I am being really honest but as I said it's up to the youngsters to grab the opportunity," said Maharoof.
"There will be times when you will get completely washed off just as we saw in the last series but that's where the character comes in for an individual, trying to step in and trying to do well for your country.
"So I reckon these boys have all the motivation to go out there and perform the way they can. There are many reasons for the downfall, I can't pinpoint any," he added.
But when asked whether a weak domestic setup could possibly be the reason, Maharoof affirmatively replied," That's one reason, there is a massive difference when it comes to domestic and international cricket. So all I could say is it's a trend where players come, players go, players retire and then the next generation comes in but individual got be much more smarter, much more hungrier to grab the opportunity.
"Not everyone gets to opportunity to play for Sri Lanka. Young players have to grab the opportunities because this is once in a lifetime opportunity so you got to value in team and try and maximise as much as possible."
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
