Lanka looking to avenge last year’s defeat

Lanka looking to avenge last year’s defeat

Lanka captain Mahela Jayawerdene is now eyeing to avenge the defeat in the ODI series against India last year at home and said his team will look to carry the momentum against the Twenty20 champions.Last year, India went down 1-2 in the Test series but bounced back to win the ODI series 3-2 under the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.Yesterday, Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by a whopping 234 runs to seal the three-match series 2-1 and the islanders now have their sights set on the series against India which gets underway from January 28.“The defeat to India hurt us badly and we are now looking forward to turning things around this time,” Jayawardene said today before leaving Pakistan.However, the Sri Lankans are well aware of the strong Indian team and Jayawerdene admitted that it wouldn't be easy to get past the Dhoni-led team.“India is shaping up well in both forms of the game. We beat them in Tests but lost the one-day matches, so it would be a good series and we would try to keep the momentum going,” he said.Jayawardene was pleased with his team’s current form and said he was satisfied with the way his team performed against Pakistan.“It has been a good series for us in Pakistan and the players showed lot of character coming back from defeat in the first match.” “The batting has also started to click so it’s a good sign and progress before we take on India,” he added.The Lankan skipper further pointed out that if his team is to beat a strong Indian team, they have to be more consistent with their batting.“We have had problems with consistency with our batting in recent series being bowled out for low totals. But the good thing is we still managed to win and that shows the character in the team,” Jayawardene stated. (PTI)