'Have something up our sleeves'

In the pre-match press conference yesterday ahead of today's tri-series final against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka's stand-in captain Dinesh Chandimal expressed the ideas and plans of his team which time and again were uttered by the Tigers under the tutelage of Chandika Hathurusingha, who is now the Lankan coach.

"We'll have a process to do that [win]. We have to do our basics and stick to the plans. If we can execute, we're in the game. We just need to be competitive and we can get a good result," was the sentiment from Chandimal, which was also often the mantra of the Tigers under their former coach.

Rejuvenated by a 10-wicket mauling of the Tigers in the last league game, Chandimal however issued a warning for the home side.

"We have something up our sleeves for tomorrow. Now, with the new coach, we've got some new strategies. We've got a lot of faith in him, and we've got some confidence. We're not thinking about the result. We are always thinking about how to play good cricket when we're in the middle. That's the main change we have in the team," he added.

Chandimal also spoke about the good 'mixture' in the team after Hathurusingha came on board.

"Winning always gives you more confidence going forward. If you have a good coach and don't have good cricketers, you can't get a good result. But if you have good cricketers with a bad coach, you also can't get a good result. Now we're in a mixture, and we'll hope to do well tomorrow -- that's the main thing," he said.

The Lankan skipper also said that they were aware of the strengths of Bangladesh in their own backyard, but he was just looking to implement their dressing room plans out in the middle.

"Actually, we don't think about the result. Especially on home soil, Bangladesh are a really good side. They've got some really good players who've played more than eight to 10 years in international cricket. But we have to execute our game plan and then we're in the game," said a confident Chandimal.

Chandimal was also not offering any excuses for their recent slump in ODI cricket; while he acknowledged the injury issues, he believed that the players need to perform well.

"Actually it was a hard time for the team and the Sri Lankan fans over the past two years, especially in the one-day format. But when you're looking at the one-day format we also had some injury issues. Sometimes we couldn't get the right combination to the game. But that's not an excuse. As players you need to perform well wherever you're playing," he concluded.