New Zealand, not India, are the main rivals: Jayasuriya

Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya considers New Zealand to be his team's main rivals in the triangular one-day Coca Cola Cup series starting in Colombo on Wednesday.

The hosts will meet New Zealand in the opening match of the tournament, also featuring India. The teams will play each other three times in the league phase, with the top two qualifying for the August 5 final.

"They (India) are not really our main rivals, but they have been playing well," Jayasuriya told a website last week.

The Sri Lankan skipper has good reason to be optimistic about defeating India: his men beat the team three times when they last met at Sharjah in October, including in the final.

India are also without their star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who is nursing a foot injury.

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has conceded that the Sri Lankans will be a tough unit at home, especially in one-dayers. "We will have to play really well to beat them," he has said.

Forgetting the past, however, will put India in a better frame of mind for the upcoming series. Last year they were on the verge of celebrating their resurgence after the match-fixing scandal when they were thwarted by New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

New Zealand were the first to ruin India's party with a remarkable four-wicket victory in the International Cricket Council knock-out final in Nairobi last October. Sri Lanka rubbed it in a few weeks later in a triangular series at Sharjah when they dismissed India for their lowest-ever total of 54 to run out comfortable winners.

But India would not like to remember these defeats and are treating this tournament as a stepping stone to the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

For this series, India has made three changes to the team that was in Zimbabwe last month. Left-handed batsman Amay Khurasiya replaces Tendulkar and middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh and left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi have been recalled.

Sri Lanka has dropped several players from the team which had clinched a tri-series at Sharjah in April in a bid to find the right men for the World Cup.

Batsmen Avishka Gunawardene and Chamara Silva have been recalled along with fast-bowling all-rounders Suresh Perera and Dulip Liyanage.

Fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa was ruled out of the series because of an ankle injury and will be replaced by Dinusha Fernando, the chief selector announced today.

Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmore has welcomed the importance given to medium-paced all-rounders.

"To be successful in South Africa, we need to have considerable fast bowling resources and some of those bowlers must be able to bat," he has said.

New Zealand have also effected a few changes in the team which had failed to qualify for the Sharjah final in April.

All-rounder Dion Nash and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori have returned to the squad after passing fitness tests. There are seven all-rounders in the team, described by chairman of selectors Richard Hadlee as "strong and experienced" and "selected with Sri Lankan conditions in mind".

New Zealand manager Jeff Crowe said his team's chances of winning the tournament here were pretty good.

"We have come here fresh, without too much cricket and from our winter with the batteries recharged," he said. "The last time they (Sri Lanka) came to New Zealand they beat us in one-dayers. I think we would like to return the favour this time."