Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara on Saturday said he was surprised when he learnt that his side's last league fixture against New Zealand in the World Cup would be played in Mumbai and not at a home venue.
The other two co-hosts, India and Bangladesh play all their league matches at home but Sri Lanka will have to travel to Mumbai for their last Group A match against New Zealand and Sangakarra rued his side will not have the advantage of playing in front of their fans.
"We were surprised when we learnt that we will have to travel to Mumbai to play that game. I thought hosts play at home," Sangakkara said at a media conference after his side's match against defending champions Australia was called off after heavy rains.
"Playing the New Zealand game is beyond our control. You can't change that now. That's gone now and we need to be up for the task," he said.
Both Sangakkara and Australian captain Ricky Ponting expressed their disappointment after the match between their two sides was called off due to heavy rains.
A heavy downpour that lasted for nearly three hours forced the match at R Premadasa Stadium to be abandoned after Sri Lanka were on 146 for three in 32.5 overs.
"It might have been a good game of cricket," Australian captain Ricky Ponting said while addressing a media conference after the game was abandoned.
"Sangakkara batted well and had we got another breakthrough, we could have exposed their tail. The Sri Lankans have a long tail and it would have been an interesting game," he added.
"The game was well poised," Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara said.
"We were looking at 250 or even more and it would have been a good game. It was the second game on that track and we had three spinners and they would have been pretty useful on that kind of track," he said.
"Well, one point from today's game is better than no points," Sangakkara added.
The result means Sri Lanka will now have to win both their remaining games against Zimbabwe and New Zealand to avoid being placed fourth in Group A and meet the top team in Group B in the quarter-finals.
