July 31, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 27, 1429

GALLE (Sri Lanka), July 30: Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene says his team is well-prepared for India’s expected fightback in the second Test starting here on Thursday.

The hosts outplayed India in all departments of the game in the opening match of the three-Test series in Colombo, winning by an innings and 239 runs on Saturday.

“I am sure they are very disappointed after the first Test, but we know how good they are. They will definitely come very strong at us and we have to be prepared for that,” Jayawardene told reporters here Wednesday.

Jayawardene said Sri Lanka were determined to clinch the series here and would likely retain the side that won in Colombo.

“That [wrapping up the series] is definitely the plan. We are confident with the win we had the other day. It’s important that we secure the series win. We will be going in the same frame of mind – that is to win,” he said. “We will probably play the same team.”

Sri Lanka owed their victory to spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, who shared 19 wickets to spark Indian collapses.

The tourists could manage just 223 and 138.

India captain Anil Kumble said he was confident of an improved performance from his batsmen and bowlers.

“I have complete faith in my team. We’ve come back in the past with the same set of players. There is a lot of resilience and experience in this team and we will fall back on that and put up a better show,” he said. “We will be positive because we need to win this match. We’d like to go out and try and get a good score. Then we have the quality spinners to come into the game.”

Teams (from):

SRI LANKA: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Michael Vandort, Malinda Warnapura, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardene, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Nuwan Kulasekera, Chamara Silva, Thilan Thushara, Chamara Kapugedera, Dammika Prasad

INDIA: Anil Kumble (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Vangipurappu Laxman, Dinesh Karthik, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, R.P. Singh, Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel.

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and Billy Doctrove (West Indies).

TV umpire: Mark Benson (England).

Match referee: Alan Hurst (Australia).

—AFP