Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal praised the India team for their recent performance against Australia in the recently-concluded Test series and hoped that his side would repeat the same while taking on the Tim Paine-led side in their upcoming two-Test series.
Chandimal stressed on the need to strike a proper balance between bowling and batting. He said that India won the Test series against Australia because they had really good bowlers adding that he is expecting same sort of performance from his players, as well.
"We have done well in New Zealand in both Tests, especially in the second innings. We just want to start well whether bowling or batting. We learnt from that last series and guys have some game plans. If they can take it out to the middle it will give us a good start," ESPNcricinfo quoted Chandimal, as saying.
"Our fast bowlers are in good shape and if we can get more than 300 that will be great from the batting unit. The India bowling unit was really good, especially between overs 40-80. That's why they won the series. As a team we just want to do that as well," he added.
Sri Lanka will go ahead in the Test series without their batting all-rounder Angelo Mathews who sustained a hamstring injury during the second Test of their recently-concluded three match series against New Zealand. While maintaining that the team would miss the services of Mathews, Chandimal asserted that it is a wonderful opportunity for the youngsters to showcase their abilities.
"We all know how good Angelo is and we will certainly miss him. In the last series he did really well and he has a lot of experience," Chandimal said.
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"This is a really good opportunity for the youngsters to show a performance. If you perform against Australia in Australia that will give you more confidence going forward. We have something up our sleeve and if we can execute that we are on the right track," he added.
Sri Lanka are slated to play their first Test against Australia from January 24 followed by another match which will begin from February 1.