After facing heavy criticism for resting Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan for a crucial match against Australia yesterday, Sri Lanka has decided to rest them again against Ireland tomorrow. Playing without their spearheads in bowling department, Sri Lanka was beaten quite easily by Australia. Though, Sri Lanka has booked their place in semifinal already but this sort of complacency and that too against the World Champion can not only ruin the whole momentum of the side but also give rise to negative feeling within the camp.

According to captain Mahela Jayawardene,

Obviously those two guys had been playing throughout the World Cup. Murali had a problem with his groin as well - he played with a strapping in the last two or three games. Once we realised we had the semi-final spot I thought we needed to give those guys a break. They have had injury problems in the last six to 12 months, and we’ve been giving them breaks. We never devalued the game. Up to now we have taken every game very seriously, and this game too. We have brought 15 guys to play this tournament, and they are all quality players.

As you can pretty much see from the above statement, Jayawardene is justifying his decision to rest Murali and Vaas but the million-dollar question is: Why against the likes of Australia? Instead of ending the undefeated run of Australia, they gave them the easy ride. Let’s hope, we get the answer in near future.

Indiatimes