Sri Lanka banking on pride in India series, says captain

July 22, 2008 (AFP) - Skipper Mahela Jayawardene says Sri Lanka are keen to maintain their impressive home record when they take on India in a three-Test series, which starts here on Wednesday.





The hosts have won home series against South Africa, England and the West Indies in the past four years and in the same period have lost just one match in 16 at home -- against Pakistan two years ago.

Jayawardene said pride was the key to success.

"We don't want any team to come and beat us at home.

That's the attitude we go with.

There is a lot of pride involved in it and we would like to protect that (record)," he told reporters on the eve of the opening Test.

"We are very consistent at home and we will continue to do that because as I have said there is a lot of pride involved in it."

He Jayawardene denied there was more pressure on his side to win the series against India, who have quality batsmen in Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Venkatsai Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag.

"If you can't do well at home, that will be an issue because we have grown up in these conditions and the guys are thriving on that pressure," he said.

"It's a healthy pressure we have in