India will be real testing ground - Atapattu
 

by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu said that the tour of India will assess how good his team was outside his own country.

"We haven't been really tested for a long period of time and we haven't played seven one-dayers for a long time," said Atapattu whose side leaves for Bombay today.

"It demands us to be focussed. We are expecting a tough challenge from India playing in India. We will be up to it. We want tougher challenges to assess ourselves where we stand outside our country," he said.

"We know we have done well in Sri Lanka but it is different when you face the Indians at home. We are all geared up for the tour. Unfortunately we haven't had the best of batting sessions due to reasons beyond our control," said Atapattu.

"We have given ourselves the best of chance of coming out and practising. Hopefully, after we play the practice game on October 22 we will be ready to take on India in the series starting on October 25."

Fresh from being voted the best one-day international captain by the International Cricket Council (ICC) Atapattu said: "It is after a long time that we are touring India (eight years). We haven't won a Test match there so far. We are starting off with seven one-dayers and it is important that we do well and gain confidence for the Tests series although it is a totally different ball game." Atapattu gave full credit to his team after being voted the best one-day international captain.

"The award reflects back on the performance we have had in the past few months. The credit should be shared by all of us not only by me. It's a great honour to have that cap given to me. I take it as a pride to the team itself," said Atapattu. "It is something recognised for that period of time. If I am to live up to that award it is up to me to raise the standard of the side and keep delivering the victories," Atapattu continued.

"What I have got is for what I have done. It is not for what I am going to gain. It is history although it is nice to have the cap under your belt. We start a new season where we will be meeting most of the strong sides in the world. It is going to be a tougher challenge than in the last few months," he said.

Commenting on the changes India has made for the first two one-day matches, Atapattu said: "From the amount of cricket all the countries are going to play leading up to the World Cup, it is important you keep your main guys fresh by giving youngsters a chance. That is what India have done. Although we haven't played the best of sides we have also been experimenting on the same lines."

Sri Lanka meet a Mumbai Cricket Association President's XI in a one-day practice match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on October 22 before commencing their seven-match one-day series against India at Nagpur on October 25. The tour is in two stages. Sri Lanka return home after playing the one-day internationals and return to India for the second leg at the end of November for a series of three Tests.

Left-arm spinner Niresh Kulkarni will lead the Mumbai XI. Kulkarni is reputed for taking a wicket in his first ball in Test cricket when he dismissed Marvan Atapattu in the first Test played at the R. Premadasa Stadium in 1997. The Test was notable for Sri Lanka running up the highest total in Test cricket - 952-6 declared with Sanath Jayasuriya (340) and Roshan Mahanama (225) sharing a world record partnership of 576.

Sri Lanka's One-Day International Itinerary

Oct 25: 1st ODI at Nagpur

Oct 28: 2nd ODI at Mohali (d/n)

Oct 31: 3rd ODI at Jaipur

Nov 3: 4th ODI at Pune

Nov 6: 5th ODI at Ahmedabad (d/n)

Nov 9: 6th ODI at Rajkot

Nov 12: 7th ODI at Baroda

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Sanath in freak accident

Sri Lanka's most experienced cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya was involved in a freak accident which is certain to delay his return to the bowling crease.

Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu said that Jayasuriya was nicely recovering from a shoulder dislocation he sustained during the IOC one-day triangular tri-series in August and was hoping to bowl during the Indian tour. Atapattu said: "We had a day out of cricket on Monday. Because it was raining we thought we do something different to cricket. We had some water sports in Bentota and this accident happened unfortunately."

During a game of waterpolo physio C.J. Smith accidentally crashed into Jayasuriya's right shoulder causing a slight dislocation which prevented him from playing in Tuesday's practice match at the R. Premadasa Stadium. "Sanath struggled to bowl today.

His arm was healing faster and he was ready to bowl for us until Monday," said Atapattu. "He can bat but it makes our job so much easy if he can bowl because he takes the role of a full bowler. It is an unfortunate situation to go back to square one." - (S.T.)