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MUMBAI — Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara deflected all the pressure onto India a day before the World Cup final by saying the host team will carry the "weight of expectation."
India hasn't won the World Cup since 1983, and hopes are high in the country of 1.2 billion that Mahendra Singh Dhoni's squad can end that wait on home soil and at Sachin Tendulkar's home ground.
Sangakkara's team has played all but one of its matches so far in Sri Lanka, but the captain said Friday that playing in India would ease the pressure on his players.
"It cuts both ways I think," Sangakkara said. "Playing in front of your home crowd adds to the excitement, the passion and the pride that you feel. But the weight of expectation, when you feel that crowd looking at you to do everything right, is also tough."
The Wankhede Stadium will be full to capacity with more than 33,000 spectators, the vast majority of whom will be cheering for India and its star player Tendulkar, who is seeking a first World Cup win in six attempts.
Even ICC chief executive Horoon Lorgat said last week that it would be a "fairy tale ending" if Tendulkar posted his 100th international hundred in the final at his home ground.
Sangakkara rejected the suggestion that Sri Lanka would be underdogs on Saturday, but said the pressure was on India to fulfill its status as tournament favorite.
"Everyone in the world expects (India) to turn up tomorrow and win this game," he said. "We have to understand the fact that India for the last year or two years have been tagged as the favorites by almost everyone to win the World Cup.
"I'm sure they'll be looking at themselves as favorites too."
Sri Lanka's final game at home ended with emotional scenes as Muttiah Muralitharan was carried around the ground by his teammates after playing his final international game in the country. The prolific offspinner had taken a wicket with his final delivery.
But Sangakkara said his players won't be motivated by the prospect of spoiling Tendulkar's party on Saturday.
"We're not here to spoil anything," he said. "Everyone understands the importance of scoring runs in a final, whether it be Sachin or anyone else. One hundred hundreds, it's the first time a player is going to get there. All of that adds to the expectations for a World Cup final.
"Our job is to ensure that the India team doesn't score too many runs."
