September 23, 2007	Sunday	Ramazan 10, 1428

COLOMBO, Sept 22: Aravinda De Silva believes Sri Lanka are too dependent on their older players and should have used the World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa to introduce young talent.

De Silva, a World Cup winner in 1996, is one of the greatest Sri Lankan batsmen of all time and became a national team selector when he retired in 2003 and he also suggests specialist players would have benefited the team following their exit in the Super Eight stage of the competition.

”I think it is high time we look at blooding specialists and youngsters to these type of games,” said de Silva, a World Cup-winner in 1996. “Our dependency of the older players appear to be too great. It is time that we use Twenty20 to find replacements and blood youngsters, otherwise it is going to be a serious problem for Sri Lanka.”

”I am sure that Twenty20 is ideal for experimenting. Look at India - they are a new look young side and so were Bangladesh. I think that should be the approach.”

De Silva believes Sri Lanka’s team selection and tactics, such as the batting order, could be improved. “I felt that the side we had picked for these tournament was not a Twenty20 side,” he added. “It is important to identify the difference in the game. Somebody like Kumar Sangakkara is a class 50 over and Test player, but I don’t think he is a Twenty20 player. He is the type who is able to consolidate and build an innings. He is such a quality player.”

”I think even the batting positions didn’t appear to be the correct ones,” added de Silva. “But we should not forget that 20-over cricket is a new concept and both the players and the coaches will take time to grasp it.”

De Silva believes Sri Lanka’s bowling attack performed well at the competition, even without Muttiah Muralitharan, who was absent with an elbow injury. “However on the positive side the bowling was very good,” added de Silva. “The strike power was excellent. I am sure Muralitharan would have made a huge difference as he is a player who is difficult to slog or hit boundries off regularly.”—Agencies