July 17, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 13, 1429

COLOMBO, July 16: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said on Wednesday his team was keen to renew the rivalry with India in a three-Test series starting here next week.

“Personally, I have a couple of milestones against India. I made my Test debut against them and also scored my first Test double-century against them.

It’s a pretty good team for me to play against,” said Jayawardene.

“We thoroughly enjoy playing India at home or away. It’s always been a tough challenge. There is good rivalry with our neighbours.”

Jayawardene, who made his Test debut in 1997 against India, hit 242 against them during the Asian Test championship match in 1999.

The Sri Lankan captain, with 7,478 runs in 95 Tests, said the series would be closely contested as both the teams had quality players.

“Every time we have played them, there has been good cricket as both the teams have some quality players. I am sure the public will have a great series to watch,” he said.

Sri Lanka last hosted India for a Test series in 2001, winning 2-1 after a close contest. The tourists were without key spinner Anil Kumble and batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who were injured.

Tendulkar is now just 172 short of breaking retired West Indies captain Brian Lara’s world record of 11,953 Test runs.

“We are going to treat Sachin in the same manner as anybody else in the Indian camp. It will be a great milestone if he achieves it, but our focus will be on winning the series,” said Jayawardene.

India captain Kumble was confident of his team’s good show in Sri Lanka, saying they would like to maintain the consistency.

“We have done well in the lead-up to the Test series. In the last one year or so we have been consistent with our performances. That’s something we will take forward,” said Kumble.

India’s bowling attack will be at full strength with the return of left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan, who has not figured in a Test this year due to injuries.

“We have Zaheer back with his experience of bowling in sub-continental conditions. Ishant Sharma has really progressed well as a seamer, and Harbhajan Singh is back as well,” said Kumble.

“The last time we played Sri Lanka in India [in 2005] we beat them, so we are confident.”

The skipper said his team had quality batsmen to succeed against Sri Lanka’s latest spin sensation Ajantha Mendis, who could make his Test debut against the tourists. Mendis outwitted Indian batsmen with clever variations in the recent Asia Cup final in Karachi, where he bagged six wickets for 13 runs to lead his team to victory.

“Our middle order has more than 30,000 Test runs and four of them have played more than 100 Tests,” said Kumble. “It will be challenging and I am sure our batsmen will definitely cope with that. It is something we need to be on the lookout for.”

India open their tour with a three-day practice match in Colombo on Friday.

They will also play five One-day Internationals after the Test series.

—AFP