Can't Always Complain That Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene Not There, Says Tillakaratne Dilshan

Sri Lanka veteran batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan on Wednesday pointed out that the team cannot afford to always complain of not having retired batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in their side. (Angelo Mathews 'Not Mentally Prepared' to Lead Sri Lanka)

"We have a lot of youngsters in the team and they are gaining a lot of experience in this duration. We can't complain all the time that Sangakkara and Jayawardene are not there in the team. When Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva left the team we had to take it from there," Dilshan said in a ICC World T20 press conference at Mumbai.

"There is no point in talking about who has retired. We have a young team and should give full support to young guns and take 100 percent out from them. Hope they can carry our country's flag high soon," he said.

The 27-day tournament got underway in Nagpur on March 8 and will be played at eight venues across India with Eden Gardens in Kolkata scheduled to host the final on April 3.

India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia are clubbed in Group 2 while South Africa, England, the West Indies and Sri Lanka are in Group 1.

After struggling to find form in the early part of the just concluded Asia Cup T20 tournament, the 39-year-old Dilshan struck a brilliant unbeaten 75 against Pakistan in the final round robin encounter.

With the team scheduled to play a couple of practice matches ahead of their first match on March 17, Dilshan is hopeful that he will carry his form to the World T20 and also continue playing his trademark 'Dilscoop' shot.

"I am confident of taking my form to the World T20. I played well against Pakistan in Asia Cup. That gave me a lot of confidence," he said.

"I am confident and I will play Dilscoop in the competition. I am not afraid of playing that shot and nowadays my son has started playing Dilscoop better than me," the right-handed batsman said.

The veteran batsman believes that the youngsters in the team have the ability to shine in the days to come, adding that patience should be the key to their success.

"We have a couple of good young guns in our team. I am helping them with tips where to improve but they need to have patience and that is the key to success," Dilshan concluded.