This was posted on Roshan's Twitter.

Kumar Sangakkara talks about his his unbeaten century (161) v Pakistan, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi, 21 October 2011.

Audio courtesy of Osman Samiuddin. Please follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/OsmanSamiuddin

When your captain urges patience before a tour, it is a sign that all is not well. That's the message Sri Lankan captain Tillakaratne Dilshan had for supporters, the media and presumably also the selectors before leaving for the UAE.

Unless an absolute miracle transpires, when we go out to bat during our second innings, Sri Lanka are all set to lose the first Test against Australia at Galle. It seems inevitable given our batsmen's recent record.

It has become quite fashionable these days to pin everything on the all powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). But let's face it; the failure of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL), which has been postponed less than two weeks before the start of the T20 tournament, was destined to fail.

I laughed so hard when David 'Bumble' Lloyd brought up Suraj Randiv's Test stats to claim that he was an 'ordinary bowler', after the English team's collapse, chasing Sri Lanka's 309/5 in the second One-Dayer.

What Lloyd forgot to mention was that Randiv has only played three Test matches, but that didn’t stop him from referring to him as an ordinary bowler, by pointing to his Test average of 40.50.

Not being able to replace the mediocre Trevor Bayliss with a highly sought after and skilled coach portrays the steady demise of our cricket, under the hands of this government appointed administration. The lavish spending and the frequent overseas travel of some SLC officials has denied our cricketers the best in the business. You have a right to be outraged!

Sri Lanka’s strategy in this World Cup campaign was certainly different. Since 1996, they have been admired for the attacking brand of cricket their batsmen played at the start of the innings and that appears to now have been lost.

Of late, Sri Lanka has not had an opening batsman with a license to score freely, without the burden of personal milestones or consistency.

With the end of Sanath Jayasuriya’s reign at the top of the order, Sri Lanka has relied on Tillakaratne Dilshan to take on that role but much has changed since Jayasuriya’s hayday and today what is required of Dilshan does not allow him the state of mind required to take risks and attack the opposition’s bowlers right from the start.

It hasn't really dawned on many in Sri Lanka that Kumar Sangakkara's first World Cup as captain could be his last. The tenth edition of the World Cup may well be the last World Cup for many others in the Sri Lankan camp as well.

It would take a very brave man to still consider Sri Lanka as favourites to win the tournament after their defeat against Pakistan on Saturday in the ICC Cricket World Cup Group A match played at Khettarama.

The scorecard may fool you; make no mistake, the only reason the match got as close as the last over and 11 runs was thanks to shambolic Pakistan, who missed stumping chances, run outs and catches - not because it was a closely fought contest.

Sri Lanka’s historic 1996 World Cup campaign has set the benchmark for Sri Lankan sides that have followed. Every Sri Lankan captain since has expressed the desire to accomplish what Arjuna Ranatunga’s side did back in 1996.

The effect the 1996 champions had on the generations to follow is evident today; Tillakaratne Dilshan crept up from the middle-order, reinventing his game as an attacking opener, hoping to emulate the success of Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana up the order. Mahela Jayawardene, too, has now taken a similar route in Twenty20 cricket.

With the benchmark set, every four years, the pundits compare today’s World Cup side with the champions from 1996. Let’s look at the two sides and compare the strengths and weaknesses of Kumar Sangakkara’s men against the successes of Arjuna Ranatunga’s World Cup winning team.

In a bungling of royal scale, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials are likely to send their team to the World Cup in conditions totally alien to them despite playing at home.

There is a good chance that Sri Lanka will play all their home games on wickets that their players have not encountered before, thereby losing all advantage of playing at home.

Just as flooding in Sri Lanka has uprooted thousands, in Queensland, Australia, flooding has left many in a desperate position. Australian cricketers, along with players from the English side currently touring there, have admirably sprung into action, appealing for donations, even forking out large sums of money from their own pockets.

Twenty-ten was a quiet year in terms of statistical highlights and records for Sri Lanka. It pales in comparison to 2009, where Sri Lanka recorded a massive 465-run win against Bangladesh in a Test, a massive 202 run win against New Zealand (also in Tests) and two Sri Lankan batsmen - Samaraweera and Jayawardene - topped the list for the most runs in Test cricket for the year.

Sri Lanka's 642/4d against India at the SSC in Colombo was the third highest Test total of this year. India's 643/6d against South Africa in Kolkata and their 707/all-out against Sri Lanka at the SSC in July tops the list for the highest Test totals of 2010.

After the scare in Galle, drastic changes have been made. The bowlers, they say, are to blame. Prasad and Thushara are made the scapegoats. In comes Nuwan Kulasekara and a virtual unknown Shaminda Eranga.

After the end of day five, all Sangakkara could talk about was how, in the Windies first innings, his bowlers didn't stick to "the plan".

I would like to respectfully remind Sangakkara here that he failed with the bat in the first innings and the second (throwing his wicket away by playing irresponsibly) and if "the plan" isn't working and the opposition are 100/0, you are the captain - change the plan!