India might have drubbed the Sri Lankans 4-1 in the one-day international series, but captain Mahela Jayawardene is confident the one-off T20 will produce a favourable result for the home team, ahead of the World T20 in September in the Island nation.
"We hope to play well tomorrow by doing things we have to do keeping in mind the T20 World Cup coming up," Jayawardene said in the pre-match press conference.
"It is significant to identify few roles for some of the players. We did that against Pakistan as well. We played different combinations in the two T20Is to accommodate few players in different roles. We will try and do the same here.
"During the Sri Lanka Premier League (starting August 11), we will get to know which of our players are in form and the combination that we need to go with. We have got a fairly good idea, about 75 percent to 80 percent, of our squad. But still there are four or five places up for grabs."
The classy batsman said he was impressed with some of the youngsters' performances in the one-day series and hoped they would continue to do well, with Lahiru Thirimanne and Jeevan Mendis particularly impressing in the final one-dayer. "The youngsters are identifying their roles. I was impressed with the way Thirimanne batted the other day, held the innings together, batted through the innings.
"He showed a lot of aggression when he wanted. Jeevan is becoming a much better all-rounder. Those components are fitting into our combination really well.
"There are certain areas we have to fine-tune. Unfortunately (Dinesh) Chandimal didn't have a great series, but we know the talent he possesses.
"We are teaching players how to handle situations. Sometimes they will make mistakes but as long as they learn from that it's important. When the opportunity comes we would like them to take control of the team and take us forward.
"What we are trying to do is to harness that and make sure they are in a comfortable situation handling international cricket. There are a few young guys we have identified from the Under-19 and various other squads. We need to slowly introduce them in the next six months or so and try and build a team."
