Nagpur: Sri Lanka’s preparations for the first Twenty20 encounter against India at Nagpur received a jolt, with star off-spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, being a doubtful starter for the first game because of a bruised ligament injury on his fingers.

“We don’t have any injury worries apart from Murali who is probably out of tomorrow’s Twenty20 tie because of bruised ligaments on his fingers,” Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara said.

Sri Lanka were beaten convincingly by India in the recently concluded test series but Sangakkara said that the team has put the 2-0 drubbing behind them and are looking forward to doing well in the rest of the tour.

“Test series is over and behind us. This is a new series and a new format and new players have come in. We would focus on it now. We will try and do a few things differently. The important thing is to enjoy the first T20 match,” he said.

Sangakkara also confirmed that 40-year old Sanath Jayasuriya would be opening the batting in the Twenty20s. “Sanath will open in T20s. It’s only in ODIs his opening the innings is not certain. He’s excellent on the field and will put to shame even 20-year-olds. His bowling is also one of our most potent weapons,” said Sangakkara who also said he would be keeping wickets on Wednesday. “I hope so,” he said when asked if he would be doing the stumper’s job in the five ODIs that follow the T20s.

The touring captain described his predecessor, Mahela Jayawardene, as Sri Lanka’s best T20 batsman despite the classy batsman being known more for his technique and long innings that he plays in test cricket.

“Mahela is our best Twenty20 batsman and is among the top five batsmen in the world in this format. He’s got the power, strokes and placements to excel in Tests, ODIs and T20s. See how well he did in the Twenty20 World Cup,” he pointed out.

When asked about what kind of a score would Sri Lanka be looking at considering that it’s supposed to be a beauty of a batting wicket, Sangakkara refused to predict a winning score at the VCA stadium in Jamtha. “I have not played here before and can’t say for sure, but anything over 160 should be a good score,” he said.

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