Sri Lanka captain expects batsmen to deliver

August 23, 2008 (AFP) - Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene is looking forward to an improved batting performance from his team in the third one-day international against India starting here on Sunday.

To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type 'act (space) lbo' and send to 678

Batting let Sri Lanka down in the second one-dayer in Dambulla on Wednesday as they could manage just 142 before suffering a three-wicket defeat and allowing India to level the five-match series 1-1.

None of their specialist batsmen could cope with India's left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan, who was named man of the match for taking 4-21.

"We were a bit disappointed with the way we handled the situation there (Dambulla)," Jayawardene said on the eve of the day-night match.

"We wanted to execute certain plans which we couldn't, but that game has gone.

The wicket and conditions are different here and all the batsmen are ready for the challenge."

Jayawardene said the batsmen would hold the key as the pitch was expected to favour them.

"It is a different wicket and looks firm.

The ball will probably come nicely on to the bat, so definitely there