It'll be a big mistake to just focus on Mendis: Dravid

Colombo: One of the men who will be keen to get back into the cauldron of Test cricket when India takes the field against Sri Lanka on Wednesday is former captain Rahul Dravid. Here are his thoughts ahead of the first Test in Colombo.

On Ajantha Mendis

"Personally and as a team we are not just focusing on Ajantha Mendis. Surely, he is going to be one of the factors. He will be just one of the four or five bowlers they pick. They have got a couple of other guys who have thousand wickets between them.

It will be a big mistake to just focus on Mendis. There will be four bowlers and we have to play and counter all of them.We will play against him as we see him. We have played a lot of bowlers in the past and have succeeded against them."

On playing after a gap

"It's good, I haven't played for a month only. It seems like a long time but it has been only a month since the end of the IPL. It's always good to play the game. We haven't played here in Sri Lanka since 2001. So it's nice to keep coming back to a country and play.

We believe we have a good side and I hope we can put some good cricket on show in the three Test matches."

On the Sri Lankan team

"They have the right balance for these conditions. They know how to play at home, their players know how to manage the heat. Muralitharan is a big impact. Vaas is a clever bowler and they have got a good batting that adapts well in these conditions and bat for long periods of time that is required in these sort of Test matches."

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