Sri Lanka outplayed India in every prospect when both teams took locked horns at Dharamshala in the first One-Day International of three-match series. India lost that match by 7 wickets and couldn’t manage a fight throughout the match.

Now, SL skipper Thisara Perera wants another similar performance from his team, which can give them maiden ODI series victory in India. “It is a good opportunity to win the series. Not many teams have won series in India. We want to do something special, like we did in Dharamsala,” said Perera.

Asked about the added pressure, he denied before quoting “It is not pressure. It is another game for us. Everyone knows if we win tomorrow we will win the series. We will give our 200 percent.”

Sri Lanka can field with their winning team in Mohali, where second ODI will take place on 13 December. Before Dharamshala ODI, visiting team was on a 12-match losing streak in ODI cricket apart from 4 T20I defeats. However, the all-rounder expects India to bounce back hard like they did against New Zealand recently.

“Yes they can but we are focused on our job. It was good to win after 12 losses and we know if we can repeat that performance, we will win tomorrow,” he added.

The southpaw believes he can take advantage of this ground as he had played the Indian Premier League for Kings XI Punjab, whose Mohali is home ground.

Talking about Ajinkya Rahane’s exclusion on the eve of the match, he concluded “I am not an Indian selector, so I can’t say why he did not play. Obviously, he is a good batsman. I can’t say anything more than that.”

Virat Kohli is rested from this series and India is 1-0 down in his absence. Thus, Rohit Sharma will try to emulate Kohli’s success while sitting on captain’s chare.