Lankans out to hit back with a vengeance

Sangakkara has a key role to play :

Chris Dhambarage reporting from India

CRICKET: Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena said that his team's recent poor performances against India will not dampen their World Cup preparations as the two Asian heavyweights begin another gruelling one day series starting in Calcutta here on Thursday.

The first match will be played as a day-nighter at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta followed by matches in Rajkot on February 11, Morgao on February 14 and Visakhapatnam on February 17.

The Sri Lankans have struggled in India in the recent past where they lost a test series 0-2 and were humiliated in a one day series 1-6 and again they failed to reach the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy tournament in November 2006.

But skipper Jayawardena said that his team has a score to settle with the Indians and vowed that his much improved team would bounce back with a vengeance. He said that the team is more determined and they need to rectify that and put it in the right direction as this is the place they need to be competitive and performing well.

"That was fourteen months ago and a lot of water has flown under the bridge as far as we are concerned. We are obviously focused and determined to win the series. We are a determined outfit now than what we were a year and a half ago.

The relevance of the earlier series is not to be considered", the Lankan skipper emphasised.

The key player in the Sri Lankan line up of course will be their wicket keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara who has been in tremendous form in both versions of the game.

His excellent performances with the bat in New Zealand helped Sri Lanka to draw the test series as well as the one day international series.

Skipper Jayawardena stressed the importance of performing well in this short series even though the team's focus may be more on the World Cup. He said that this time they will need to refocus themselves as India is a place that they have not performed well in the recent past.

The Lankans have also realised the importance of this series as they are grouped along with India, Bangladesh and Bermuda for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

The entire team is quite aware that if they could come on top of their opponents and win the series it will certainly be a be tremendous morale booster going into the World Cup in few week's time.

Skipper Jayawardena said that they could really build up a psychological advantage over their opponents if the team could come out with an improved performance in this series.

The main reason for the teams impressive record is because the Lankans have improved a lot in their bowling department.

"We are competing much better overseas and the main reason for it is that Sri Lanka have a vastly improved bowling side than in the past" said Jayawardene.

Skipper Jayawardena said that their bowling plan is not to just go out and bowl the fifty overs and concede around 250 to 270 runs but they need to strive on, find more variations and more attacking options to boost the bowling unit altogether.

This was very much the case during their recent tour of New Zealand where they drew the one day international series two all.

The Sri Lankan captain also said that this series will give them the opportunity in looking at the composition of the team for the World Cup as they need to figure out exactly what kind of combinations they need to have.

With key players Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Ruchira Perera been rested for this tour it will give the opportunity for the experienced players like Russel Arnold, Upul Chandana and Nuwan Zoysa to display what they are capable of.

The Sri Lankan captain said that the team is now beginning to make it a habit of winning overseas which is a very good sign. In fact during the last fourteen months since the tour to India, Sri Lanka have won a total of 20 of their 40 one-day internationals with 17 losses and three no results.

Left hander Arnold has been in good form this season and scored heavily during Sri Lanka 'A' teams's tour of the West Indies recently.

The thirty three year old played his last one day international against the Netherlands in Amstelveen last July where he scored 42 runs in his team's total of 313 for 8.

Upul Chandana too has forced himself into recognition following some outstanding performances with both bat and ball. Chandana too had a successful tour of India with the Sri Lanka 'A' team where they emerged runners up in the Dulip Trophy domestic tournament.