Lankans will not take B'desh easy

CRICKET: Sri Lanka will be hoping to draw inspiration from their recent success in England when they take on Bangladesh in the International Cricket Council Mini World Cup first qualifying round match in Mohali on Saturday.

Even then the Lankans do consider Bangladesh as a tough opponent as they have the ability to upset the form book having created a number of major upsets in tournaments of this nature.

The Lankans made a historic five nil clean sweep against England following a drawn test series and also won the recent home test series against South Africa.

But unfortunately they are forced to play in a qualifying round tournament as they dropped in the ICC one day rankings after a 1-6 defeat at the hands of India.

This time they are more than determined to put up an improved performance which will certainly lift their morale and confidence ahead of the ICC World Cup in the Caribbean.

The Sri Lanka team will go into this opening fixture with their heads held high having recorded a morale boosting 84 run victory over the Punjab Cricket Association President's team in a warm up match on Thursday.

Even though Sri Lanka have had a great amount of success against Bangladesh in the recent past, skipper Mahela Jayawardena said that every match is really important for his team.

Jayawardena said that they will not be focusing on one particular team as they are playing against eight top teams. He said that India who are playing at home will be altogether a tough opposition. India is certain to learn from their earlier mistakes and be a much stronger opposition.

The Sri Lankan captain also said that his team is well prepared to take on any opposition as that is a challenge as professional cricketers.

"We have to be prepared to play each and every opposition on its merit". Jayawardena is also quite pleased with his own batting performance and seem to be enjoying his role while batting in the top order.

After taking over the leadership from the injured Marvan Atapattu in February, Jayawardena has averaged 62.93 in test cricket from nine matches and 54 in one day internationals, which is in contrast with his career average of 32.33.

Jayawardena's productive form includes back-to-back one day international hundreds against England after he was promoted to the number three position in the batting order which helped his team thrash the hosts 5-0.

Jayawardena said that batting at number three has given him a lot of freedom and is hoping to continue with the same form.

The Sri Lankan captain said that with the experienced Marvan Atapattu coming down the order he now has the opportunity of playing more aggressively which will be a real advantage when the powerplay system is in force.

The teams:

BANGLADESH: Habibul Bashar (captain), Shahriar Nafees, Khaled Mashud, Mohammad Rafique, Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza, Rajin Saleh, Abdur Razzak, Aftab Ahmed, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain, Farhad Reja, Saqibul Hasan, Mehrab Hossain.

SRI LANKA: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Upul Tharanga, Tillkaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedara, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Ruchira Perera, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Malinga Bandara, Muttiah Muralitharan.