Lanka look good to conquer their final frontier

For the world’s second-best ODI side, the relentless route to No 1 involves overcoming the Final Frontier. Though Tom Moody has won 13 ...

For the world’s second-best ODI side, the relentless route to No 1 involves overcoming the Final Frontier. Though Tom Moody has won 13 of the 14 matches since he took over, and Sri Lanka look almost as good as in 1996, when they won the World Cup, the stakes have been raised even higher: Win in India is the command from his bosses.

The five-man review committee — including Arjuna Ranatunga, Duleep Mendis and Roy Dias — that is evaluating Moody’s work has specified the results needed from this present tour.

‘‘India is one country where we’ve not done very well on tours’’, Mendis told The Indian Express today. ‘‘Ever since this series was planned, we (the committee, Moody and the players) have discussed playing India in India and dominating them. Moody and the players have been made to understand how important it is for us to erase any blot on our record.’’

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The Lankans last visited India in 1997-98, still in the afterglow of their World Cup victory. Both the Test and ODI series ended in draws with rain (in Nagpur) and bad playing conditions (Indore) disrupting play. Prior to that, though, India had always been the more dominant of the two.

The change began after their 1999 World Cup defeat to India in Taunton, when the Lankans began to concentrate more on their existing domestic pool. When India toured Sri Lanka for the tri-series in August this year, Mendis, Ranatunga and DeSilva had explained how Sri Lanka spent the last three years concentrating on the upcoming talent.

And now, says DeSilva, comes the best possible opportunity for his country to establish supremacy. ‘‘Defeating India in the tri-series at home was a major psychological boost, and that is certainly an advantage that we have,’’ he says.

It won’t be easy, he warns. ‘‘Let’s not forget that once again there will be two young teams—low on experience but high on quality—fighting each other.’’

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DeSilva is currently in Australia but is keenly following the action here. ‘‘The road is somewhat the same for both the teams, where youngsters need to learn and progress on their way to success.’’

But what gives Lanka the advantage, he feels, is the fact that the youngsters have managed to settle down much faster than their Indian counterparts. ‘‘There are some very talented faces there (in India) but yet to find their feet. So if we talk about this series, we certainly hold the advantage,’’ he says.

Nevertheless, Lanka captain Atapattu is still very cautious about his side’s approach. ‘‘The Indians boast of a list of players, where any individual can make a major difference. The practice match we played was a good eye-opener and hopefully will should correct our mistakes—whatever—in time,’’ he said.