20 February,2011 05:29 AM IST | | Shahid Hashmi
Canada captain Ashish Bagai insists that the record-breaking World Cup rout suffered at the hands of Sri Lanka in 2003 will have no bearing when the teams meet on today.
Bagai played in the Canada side which was bowled out for a paltry 36 -- still the lowest total in all World Cup tournamentsu00a0-- at Paarl in South Africa.
But the 29-year-old Delhi-born wicketkeeper is adamant that the humiliating loss is not an issue. "There are only two guys from that World Cup hereu00a0-- myself and John Davisonu00a0-- and we don't talk about that game too much. But the one before that is still in my mind," said Bagai, of his team's only World Cup win against Bangladesh at Benoni in 2003.
Don't fear
Bagai has instructed his team to play without fear. "I hope the players play freely. I want to see the young guys play their natural game and the older guys show responsibility, like they did in the warm-up match against England," said the captain.
Canada lost their first warm-up against Bangladesh by nine wickets but handed England a mighty scare when they fell just 16 runs short of a 244-run target, with hard-hitting batsman Rizwan Cheema scoring a rapid 71-ball 93. "It was a decent performance against England and although not everything went right it helped our spirits going into tournament," said Bagai, playing in his third World Cup.
"We are here to play a good brand of cricket. Nobody expects us to win and we want to use it to our advantage." Bagai also criticised the ICC's decision to slash the World Cup from 14 to 10 teams for the 2015 tournament in Australia and Sri Lanka. "Everyone from the associate world including players from Test world have said it's a real shame for the game," he said.
