Sri Lanka is keen to end their woes in one-day cricket when they take on India in the five match series that begins on Wednesday at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium. Although Sri Lanka have won three successive tournaments having beaten Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Pakistan since last November, there has been concern about the team’s form as they struggled to beat Zimbabwe in a five match series and then lost to Bangladesh in a tri-nation competition in Dhaka.

But the fears were put to rest as the Sri Lankans comprehensively beat Pakistan in a three match series played in Karachi and Lahore and Sri Lanka’s next target would be to win the series against India.

The Indians arrived in Colombo on Monday and will play five ODIs followed up by the Twenty-20 International.

The former world champions’ slump in form in ODI cricket is revealed by their standing in the official ICC rankings, where they are placed at number seven just ahead of West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Jayawardene was confident that Sri Lankans will be able to get back to winning ways after India beat them for the first time in history on Sri Lankan soil last year.

The Indian team that beat Sri Lanka 3-2 comprised several young players and the presence of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, who didn’t take part in the last year’s series due to injury will make things tougher for the hosts.

Jayawardene admitted that the Sri Lankans needed to play to their potential to overcome a strong Indian batting line up. They will pin their hopes on mystery man Ajantha Mendis the cause of problems for reputed Indian batsmen.

Mendis picked up a World Record 26 wickets on his Test debut against India last July and early this year became the fastest bowler to claim 50 wickets in ODI cricket.

There will also be high focus on off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who requires three more wickets to become the highest wicket taker in One-Day cricket. Last week Muralitharan joined Wasim Akram as only the second bowler in the history to claim 500 ODI wickets.

Sri Lanka’s selectors have named the same squad of 15 that toured Pakistan for the first three ODIs and selection sources indicated that they may recall fast bowlers Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga for the remaining two games. Both bowlers have done well in the domestic competition for their respective clubs.

Vaas is also the highest wicket taker in ODIs between Sri Lanka and India.

Mahela Jaywardene ( Capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, T. M. Dilshan, Thilina Kandamby, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Kulasekera, Thilina Thushara Mirando and Angelo Mathews.

MS Dhoni (Captain),Gautam Gambhir, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh.

28th Jan 1st ODI at Dambulla

31st Jan 2nd ODI at RPS (D/N)

3rd Feb 3rd ODI at RPS (D/N)

5th Feb 4th ODI at RPS (D/N)

8th Feb 5th ODI at SSC (DAY)

10th Feb T-20 at RPS (D/N)