By Stuart Hess
Sri Lanka's captain Kumar Sangakkara hopes being weighed down by the pressure of playing at home will be a burden too much for South Africa to bear when they open their ICC Champions Trophy campaign against his side at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Tuesday.
Sangakkara said his side was revelling in its status as underdog's heading into Tuesday's match. "A game is game, it doesn't matter the opposition. we have come here as underdogs going into the South Africa game," said Sangakkara.
"They've got a major tournament to start off in front of their home fans. The pressure is really on them rather than us. We've got to go out there and be ready to face whatever challenges come our way. And if we do that, stay below the radar, let everyone else and the fans concentrate on South Africa we can hopefully surprise them."
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His opposite number, rather phlegmatically batted back Sangakkara's sentiments.
"It's a natural thing for Kumar to say. Passing the buck has become a very good thing as an international captain these days," said Graeme Smith.
There may be marginally more pressure on South Africa as hosts, but Sri Lanka will carry a lot of expectation in to the match, having built up a good record at tournaments in recent years.
"Their record in these tournaments speaks for itself, they are always pushing towards finals. They did very well to get to the finals of the T20 championships (eralier this year), they made the final of this tournament in 2002. They are a team with a lot of variety and a team that deserves a lot of respect," Smith added.
Neither skipper was willing to make a call on what kind of conditions to expect - Smith because he hadn't seen the pitch yet, and Sangakkara because he was terrible at reading surfaces.
"I'd much rather play on them to see what happens," Sangakkara quipped.
"We've got a pretty set plan. We've got one of the best spinners to ever play the game (Muttiah Muralitharan) and then Ajantha Mendis one of the best spinners to come out lately and hopefully both of them will get a run tomorrow."
"We've got good fast bowlers bowling regularly at 140km-plus and we've got all-rounders as well. So we'll worry about it overnight and then make a decision tomorrow."
Smith said the surface was something of an unknown factor for his team too.
"Even though it's home conditions, we don't play a lot of day/night cricket at this time of year, so it's a bit of an unknown for us also. But generally Centurion is a wonderful ground to play at, the pitch is normally very good."
Smith confirmed that Hashim Amla would open the batting instead of Herschelle Gibbs, who is undergoing rehabilitation after suffering "a minor rib and intercostal injury," during South Africa's warm-up match against the West Indies on Friday.
Tuesday's match starts at 2.30pm
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