The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Dambulla

India will look to its in-form openers for good starts in the five-match one-day international series against Sri Lanka starting Monday, as the visitors seek to repair

pride wounded in the test series defeat.

Sri Lanka and India play the first one-day match in Rangiri Dambulla Stadium on Monday after the hosts won the test series 2-1.

India's much-vaunted batting line-up was largely subdued in the tests, with openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir providing what little punch the tourists could deliver, and one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni needs their input again.

"In any form of cricket, whether in test cricket or one-dayer, the start is very important," Dhoni said Sunday.

"Sehwag is sort of a player who takes a bit of risk. He is a stroke player and there is a fair amount of risk involved. Whenever he gives a good start then we get a fair chance to win the game.

"He is in a very good nick. He and Gautam Gambhir have played well in the test series also. Of course they will have some added responsibility but no real pressure."

India had a morale boost when they crushed a Sri Lankan Board XI team by 92 runs in the only warmup game for the one-day series.

Dhoni said India's morale was strong despite the test series defeat, and the warmup match was encouraging.

"We were never low on confidence," Dhoni said. "You can say we have got used to the conditions a bit, to the wickets in Sri Lanka. Overall (the warmup) was good but an international game is completely different from any side game."

Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene said his side must start from scratch for the one-dayers, putting little stock in theories of carried-over momentum from the tests.

"I am a great believer in hard work, doing little things right," Jayawardene said.

Sri Lanka's test victories were forged on the spin bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan and impressive newcomer Ajantha Mendis, but Jayawardene was now counting on his batsmen to show the way.

"In ODI cricket in general, putting runs on the board is crucial. But having a bowling attack that picks up wickets, you can fall back on that, but not everyday. We need to be very consistent," Jayawardene said.

India captain Dhoni said the introduction of Mendis in the Asia Cup - which proceeded the India tests - had made the difference for a Sri Lanka lineup that had not been at its peak since reaching the final of the 2007 World Cup.

Mendis picked up six wickets to turn the Asia Cup final against India in Sri Lanka's favor and carried on to set a new world record for most wickets in a debut three-match test series.

"Now in the middle they have two bowlers, previously it was (Muttiah) Muralitharan and we look to score from the other side. But now they have two specialist bowlers who don't really give loose balls to cash on," Dhoni said.

The squads:

Sri Lanka (from): Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Udawatte, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Ajantha Mendis, Thilina Thushara Mirando, Nuwan Kulasekara, Jehan Mubarak, Malinda Warnapura.

India (from): Mahendra Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Rudra Pratap Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Subramaniam Badrinath.