Already dealing a huge blow due to their star pacer lasith Malinga preferring to play for Mumbai Indians (MI) in Champions league T20 tournament, the news of ace batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan pulling out of the contest due to “personal reasons” was a shocker to Sri lanka’s domestic T20 champion, Southern Express (SE).
The team will be lead by Jehan Mubarak as they battle it out in the qualifiers for the Champions league T20 2014 in Raipur. "I have been informed that Dilshan won't be participating in the ClT20 due to personal reasons. So that's all information we have got for now" said Mubarak. He added that “teams, whether it's international or domestic matches, don't rely on one or two players. They make plans to go with the entire team." Malinga had captained the team to the championship title at the domestic Super Fours T20 tournament. "Not having Malinga is a bit of a blow for us as he was a part of the team in Colombo. As far as Dilshan is concerned he didn't attend the practice and played games” the team’s manager Shane Fernando informed the media.
“Obviously he is big player and a great batsman. But we have a good balanced side and looking to do well in the championship," Shane replied when asked about the impact of absence of Malinga and Dilshan on team's performance. To a query on the overall strength of his team, Mubarak said that it has been doing well with the bat but will be focusing to capitalize on each compartment and look to progress in the tournament game by game. SE will take on Northern Knights at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium here on September 13 before locking horns with tougher opponents lahore lions and Mumbai Indians.
“Not only with Mumbai Indian but with every opposition that we play we analyse the batting and bowling strength and weakness and who we should use in which situation. We have had a look at the batters and we come up with plans on how to try and bowl well against them” he replied while speaking about their strategy against big-hitters like Corey Anderson.