Sri Lankan team arrives looking for elusive first Test win in India

Mumbai, Nov 8 : The Kumar Sangakkara led 16-member Sri Lankan team arrived at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport here this morning for a full series comprising three Tests, two Twenty20 internationals and a five ODI match series.

The Lankans, seeking their first Test series win in India, will begin their tour with a three-day match against the Board President's XI beginning at the Brabourne stadium here from November 11, from where they will move on to Ahmedabad for the first Test starting from November 16.

Kanpur (November 24-November 28) and Mumbai (December 2-December 6) will host the second and third Tests respectively.

Both the teams have played each other 29 times in Test matches with India having won 11 matches, while the visitors have won only five. The remaining 13 matches have ended in draws.

Interestingly, none of Sri Lanka's five wins have come in India though the visiting team has played 14 matches in the country.

India beat Sri Lanka 2-0 the last time these two teams met in the country in a three-match series in 2005-06.

After the Test series, Sri Lanka will play two Twenty20 Internationals -- Nagpur (December 9) and Mohali (December 12) -- and five One-dayers at Rajkot (December 15), Visakhapatnam (December 18), Cuttack (December 21), Kolkata (December 24) and Delhi (December 27).

All the ODIs, barring the first, will be day-night encounters.

The security advisor of the Sri Lankan cricket team, Lawrance Fernando, had reviewed the security arrangements in the stadiums, where the team is scheduled to play.

Sri Lankan officials have taken all precautions after their team became a target of a militant attack during their tour to Pakistan in March this year.

Sri Lanka Test squad: Kumar Sangakkara (Captain), Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavitana, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Thilina Kandamby, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Kaushal Silva, Chanaka Welegedara, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekera, Dammika Prasad, Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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