Sri Lanka's cricketers departed on Thursday morning for the United Arab Emirates confident of reclaiming Sharjah's desert crown from a full strength Pakistan side in the bi-annual triangular.
Waqar Younis's Pakistan powered to a an easy victory in November and Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore is therefore looking for a special show of character from the Sri Lankan players.
"Against Pakistan I want to feel a real positive intent," said Whatmore. "As far as I am concerned, I glad that we are going to be playing a full strength Pakistani side - bring them on, that's what I say."
"I am interested to see how we go. This doesn't mean that we have to win - I am looking at the performance and want us to meet them head on."
With nine straight wins in Test cricket under their belt, Whatmore senses a new inner strength within the side: "Success is about creating the right mindset and I believe that the most important reason for our recent success has been an increase in mental toughness."
Sharjah will mark a major change in the Sri Lankan's one-day strategy, with Kumar Sangakkara sliding up the order into the openers berth, a position Whatmore believes he is ideally suited to.
"Sanga's promotion represents a significant change in our approach to one-day cricket - a change that I believe will improve it, although we also have the option of reverting back at any stage," he said.
"The thinking behind it is that when playing in England, and on some surfaces in Australia and South Africa, we cannot afford to lose to many wickets in the first fifteen overs. The degree to which we take risks needs to be reduced.
"Sanga has been batting at six and seven in the order, positions that haven' t really agreed with his style because he finds it difficult to manoeuvre the ball into the gaps right from the start.
"But he has shown that he has the necessary skills for playing against the new ball: he has a good, solid temperament, strong self belief, an organised technique, has the ability to bat for long periods and is no slouch when well set."
Sangakkara's promotion opens up a space at number six - a slot that Whatmore describes as the "hardest position in the order" - for either Tillakaratne Dilshan or Romesh Kaluwitharana.
"Traditionally, the younger batsmen have not been given much of a chance batting in the lower middle order - this could be an excellent opportunity for Dilshan," said Whatmore.
Sri Lanka will play a warm-up game on Friday against the United Arab Emirates before taking on Pakistan in the first game on Monday.
An injury ravaged New Zealand side, fresh from their dramatic series leveling Test win against England, are the third team in the tournament.
© CricInfo
| Teams | England, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. |
| Players/Umpires | Dav Whatmore, Waqar Younis, Kumar Sangakkara, Hashan Tillakaratne, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Romesh Kaluwitharana. |
| Tournaments | Sharjah Cup |
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