Upul Tharanga top scores in Sri Lankan win over India

Not many of the World Cup players to watch have been pulling their weight so far. It's good to see that Upul Tharanga's on our side.

There were no huge scores in the match against India, so Tharanga's 64 turned out to be the best. We suppose that Murali's 3-41 was more important, but if you're not watching Murali just what ARE you doing? You'd better have a damn good excuse.

Unacceptable excuses:

Couldn't see.
Thought he was someone else.
Didn't want to miss The Bill.
Wanted to "go out" and "have fun".

Acceptable excuses:

You are Muttiah Muralitharan.

Upul Tharanga hits a hundred

Can you feel the 'I told you so' vibe of the site over the next month? We'll mostly be ignoring all the World Cup results, highlighting the achievements of our World Cup players to watch and glossing over their failures.

Upul Tharanga hit 106 against New Zealand. Sri Lanka lost. They were probably just messing with their tactics though. You know, fine-tuning before the World Cup. Ditto England.

Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka - World Cup player to watch

When Sri Lanka arrived in England last year, Sanath Jayasuriya had (temporarily) retired and Sri Lanka's openers were virtual debutants. It all seemed too easy for the English.

It wasn't easy though. Not for England, anyway. Upul Tharanga took them to the cleaners. It was a blessed relief when the one-day series finally ended. Tharanga and Jayasuriya destroyed the confidence of England's bowlers and then continued to stomp up and down on the remains with unwavering mercilessness.

It all culminated in the fifth one-dayer when the pair added - no, pulverised - 286 in just 32 overs of bedlam. Afterwards it took a month to dig up half of England's one-day side, they were ground into the dirt so efficiently.

More hundreds followed for Tharanga in The Champions' Trophy. This guy could easily prove to be one of the newer generation of stars at this World Cup.

Other players to watch during the World Cup