Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Jayawardene looking for revenge


Mahela Jayawardene admits his side will be intent on revenge when they take on India in the first one-day international.

Sri Lanka lost an ODI series against India last August but hope this time they will have the momentum after clinching the recent Test series 2-1.

"The defeat against India hurt us badly, but we are now looking to turn things around," said Jayawardene.

"We beat them in the Tests but lost the one-day series against them, so it's going to be an interesting series.

"We will try to keep the momentum going."

Jayawardene's men have showed no ill effects from a hectic fixture schedule in recent months, during which time they have posted convincing wins in a two-match Test series against Bangladesh and the following triangular one-dayers which also included Zimbabwe.

Shining light

They were then pitted against Pakistan, whose original opponents India called off a series with their neighbours because of political tension, and clinched a 2-1 win having lost the first game in Karachi.

Despite their good form, they have been inconsistent with the bat although Tillakaratne Dilshan has been a shining light.

"We have had problems with our batting and have been bowled out for low totals," said Jayawardene, who has struggled for form of late.

"But the good thing is we still managed to win and the guys have shown a lot of character.

Extended break

"We still scored a series win in Pakistan and the batting has also started to click, so it's a good sign before we take on India."

India paceman Zaheer Khan has other ideas however, saying: "I'm looking to play good, competitive cricket and focus on the process rather than the results.

"I've always felt that if I bowl well, wickets would follow. So the focus is on bowling well."

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side have had an extended break following the cancellation of the Pakistan tour, and Zaheer has used the time to perfect his technique.

"I was advised to cut short my run-up but that was a long time back," he said.

"A longer run-up wasn't adding to my bowling in terms of generating pace.

"So I knew I had to do it, but I didn't want to do it right off at international level.

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