Openers take Sri Lanka off to a flier

Pallekele: Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura won the toss and decided to bowl first in their Group A encounter against Sri Lanka at the new Pallekele Stadium on Thursday.
Sri Lanka, surprisingly, decided to field four pacers - Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Pererea and all-rounder Angelo Mathews - in Thursday's game. It also means, only Muttiah Muralitharan was playing as a specialist spinner for the Lankan Lions.

Zimbabwe brought in pacer Chris Mpofu in place of opening batsman Charles Coventry.
The African nation, who have never beaten Sri Lanka in four previous World Cup matches, need a win to stay in hunt for a quarter-final place.
Zimbabwe have two points from their win over Canada while they lost to New Zeaaland and Australia.
Sri Lanka on the other hand find themselves at No. 3 in the points table, which is topped by New Zealand ahead of Pakistan with Australia at No. 4.
Nothing less than a win should satisfy the Lankan fans, who saw their team going down to Pakistan in their second match before thrasing Kenya in the next game. Their game against Australia was washed out and the two teams shared a points each.
Some emotions are also attached to Thursday's match as the it could possibly be the last time the spin legend, Murali, is playing in front of the home crowd.
Teams:
Sri Lanka: U Tharanga, T Dilshan, K Sangakkara (Capt), M Jayawardene, T Samaraweera, C Silva, A Mathews, N Kulasekara, T Perera, L Malinga, M Muralitharan
Zimbabwe: B Taylor, R Chakabva, T Taibu, P Utseya, C Ervine, E Chigumbura (Capt), G Lamb, G Cremer, R Price, T Panyangara, C Mpofu

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