| Player: | MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, DPMD Jayawardene |
| Event: | India in Sri Lanka 2008/09 |
India will miss the injured Harbhajan Singh but have two spinners who can make their mark in Sri Lanka, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said on Monday. Experienced off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was ruled out of the one-day series with a hamstring injury. India will play five one-day internationals and one Twenty20 international starting on Wednesday in a hastily arranged series to fill the gap left by India's cancelled tour of Pakistan in the aftermath of militant attacks in Mumbai last November. In Harbhajan's absence the selectors have turned to left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
"Harbhajan has been the pick of our spinners and we will miss him, but we have two spinners in Pragyan Ohja and Jadeja who will try and fill in the space left by his absence. Playing Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka is always tough," added Dhoni.
"We may have won the last series but they must have seen what went wrong for them. One of the things that went wrong was the toss as that can be crucial when you are playing here, both under lights when the ball moves around in the evening and even at Dambulla where it does a lot during day games."
Sri Lanka hope to build on the winning momentum gained from their 2-1 series win against Pakistan, which followed unconvincing displays against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. "We have not been at our best in recent months but we have still been winning and that has been encouraging, showing our character under pressure," told Jayawardene. "We hope to now build on the confidence gained from our performance in Pakistan in what is going to be a very tough series against India, now one of the best teams in the world."