India practice ahead of first test match against Lanka - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Ahead of their first test match against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad, Indian cricket squad spent a couple of hours practising hard at the nets on Sunday. The match will be played at city's Sardar Patel stadium. The stadium's pitch curator said the pitch would give opportunity to both batsmen and bowlers. "This pitch is for five days and I believe that this pitch has everything for the batsmen, spin bowling," said Dheeraj Prasanna , pitch curator Kumar Sangakkara-led Sri Lankan squad is brimming with confidence after two back-to-back series wins at home against Pakistan and New Zealand . Sri Lanka have not won any of the 14 matches they have played in India since their first test visit in 1982, but skipper Kumar Sangakkara feels they have the potential to pull off a surprise in the three-test series. Sri Lanka are second behind South Africa in the official test rankings and are looking to extend their winning streak after defeating Pakistan and New Zealand at home by identical 2-0 margins in July and August. India beat Sri Lanka 2-0 when the two teams played a three-match Test series in 2005-2006 in India.