NEW DELHI, Oct 2: Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya on Monday sounded a warning to bowlers ahead of the Champions Trophy in India, saying he was confident of finishing the tournament on an impressive note.

“There are no fitness problems now and the confidence is back after the England tour,” said Jayasuriya, 37.

The aggressive left-handed opener played a vital role in his team's 5-0 series victory in England in July, scoring 322 runs with two centuries.

Jayasuriya, who came out of Test retirement after the home series against Pakistan in April, had been plagued with injuries in recent years before bouncing back in style against England.

“It is not easy to come back from injuries,” said Jayasuirya, the only Sri Lankan to have completed 10,000 runs in One-day internationals.

“Now I just want to perform well in this tournament. I have always played my natural game and tried to win matches for my team. We first have to do well in the qualifying rounds and we cannot take chances against any team.” Sri Lanka play the West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the qualifying rounds starting on October 7. The top two sides will join Australia, England, India, South Africa, New Zealand and Pakistan in the next round.

Former Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu returned from a back injury to boost batting.

“Yes, I am raring to go,” said Atapattu, who played his last one-dayer in March.

“I did not play much cricket in recent months, but the team's confidence is high. It's a challenge for all of us to do well in the tournament.” Wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara said the team were looking forward to playing qualifying matches because they were short of practice after the rained off series against India at home in August.

“It is a positive for us as we have not played much in recent months,” he said. “We are treating all matches seriously because strange things can happen on the field in one-dayers.”—AFP