Had no idea about dope rumours

Tillakaratne Dilshan revealed he had no inkling of the doping news around him after a brilliant all-round show against Zimbabwe.

By Rajarshi Gupta in Kandy

Dilshan was in the midst of a brewing storm ahead of Sri Lanka’s crucial clash against Zimbabwe when certain sections of the media alleged the opener had failed a dope test. However, after the 34-year-old led a Lankan rout over the Africans with a compact 144 and a four-wicket haul, he denied being charged-up because of the rumours that haunted the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

“I had no idea about what was doing the news. I wasn’t reading the newspapers and I wasn’t watching any news on TV, so there was no pressure at all,” Dilshan told journalists after Sri Lanka crushed Zimbabwe by runs.

The right-handed batsman, considered to be one of the most dangerous hitters of the cricket ball did admit that he was happy to get amongst the runs after some sloppy shows with the bat in the first-three matches of the ICC CWC.

“I got starts in two games but couldn’t capitalise on them so I am really happy with my performance. I got off to a good start and I was happy to make it count on Thursday,” Dilshan said.

Sri Lanka were struggling to get their opening partnerships right before the Zimbabwe game and a lot of the focus had shifted on the middle-order and Dilshan admitted it was a relief both he and his partner, Upul Tharanga, got big runs in an attempt to iron out any flaws ahead of the quarter-finals.

“We need to get good starts every match. If the openers start off well, then the team is going to score 260 to 270 runs and that’s why our partnership was so crucial on Thursday,” Dilshan told the media.

Dilshan, who took two wickets on the trot to push Zimbabwe further back in their pursuit of a massive Lankan score, stressed he wanted to bowl more as the tournament progressed, probably aware of the damage Yuvraj Singh has been doing with his left-arm spinners.

“I had more chances of bowling because we were playing only one spinner (Muttiah Muralitharan) but I would like to bowl more occasionally in the ICC CWC,” Dilshan said.

Dilshan’s strikes were important in the context of the match after the minnows got off to a flier, thanks to a sensational knock from opener Brendon Taylor but the Man-of-the-Match conceded the co-hosts of the ICC CWC were not too bothered about the runs they leaked in the beginning.

“We were not too worried about the pace at which they were getting their runs because we knew our spinners would come in and stop the runs. It was only a matter of time before we pulled things back,” Dilshan said.

Sri Lanka next play New Zealand in Mumbai, their only match away from home.