Shanaka plays down pressure of World Cup qualifiers as team leaves for Zimbabwe

Sri Lanka's One Day International captain Dasun Shanaka remained confident his team could make the Cricket World Cup in India this year, as they departed the island for Zimbabwe this morning, where they will play a qualifying tournament.

For the first time in 42 years, Sri Lanka did not automatically qualify for the Cricket World Cup, having finished outside the top eight teams in the Cricket World Cup Super League. 

That has meant they will now need to make the final of the 10-team qualification tournament, that also includes the West Indies, Ireland, the United States and hosts Zimbabwe. 

"I don't feel any pressure. This is the third qualifying round I am playing in, when you consider the last two T20 World Cups," Shanaka told journalists ahead of the team's departure to Zimbabwe. 

"Countries like the USA, the Netherlands and Ireland have developed over the last decade in terms of their cricket. Unfortunately we have not played to the best of our abilities over the last few years and that is why we are playing in the qualifiers," he said.

"There is no pressure, but I think its a good challenge for us and I am confident we can win."

Sri Lanka open their qualification campaign on June 19 against the United Arab Emirates, before taking on Oman, Ireland and Scotland. 

They will play the Netherlands and the United States in warm-up matches before their qualification opener. 

(Shehan Daniel)