Dubai: Sri Lanka, who finished runners-up in the previous edition, have a good chance of winning the cricket World Cup for the second time, stylish batsman Mahela Jayawardene said.
Jayawardene, who led Sri Lanka to the 2007 World Cup final in the West Indies, said the team's approach in the next edition will be to take it one match at a time. The World Cup kicks off from February 19 in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
"I do not want to consider ourselves as favourites. We can be a force to be reckoned with," Mahela said during a World Cup promotional event here yesterday.
"We will just like to start slowly and concentrate on one game at a time. I know the conditions will help us, the crowd and home advantage and all that.
"But we can only control things on the field. We can just keep our focus on that. I think we have got a pretty good chance."
Sri Lanka's lone World Cup triumph came in 1996 when they beat Australia in the final in Lahore, Pakistan.
At the same event, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hassan spoke about his team's preparation.
"I had a chat with Mashrafe [Mortaza] and he told me that he will be able to play after a month... I firmly believe he will be fit and that will be a great bonus for us."
