We want to start new season with a bang: Srikkanth

Chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth today said he is confident that the Indian team would put behind its dismal show in England, Australia and Bangladesh and return to winning ways with a bang during the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.

“We are looking forward to this particular season. Being the first tour of the season we really wanted the best possible team. Of course Sachin Tendulkar is not available. He’s starting off from the NZ series. So we have selected the best available team based on the performance,” said Srikkanth.

“I think it is a very good side. Don’t forget we have a strong batting line up and good bowlers…(like) Zaheer Khan and everybody. We (selectors) are confident of doing very well in Sri Lanka,” said Srikkanth after the selection panel members, along with coach Duncan Fletcher, sat down to pick the one-day and Twenty20 team for the July 21-August 7 tour of Lanka.

“Of course we also have 20-20 World Cup coming (between September 18 and October 7 in Sri Lanka). We also have New Zealand coming for a series (sandwiched between the two visits to Lanka) and then England coming (end of year). We have a long season ahead and, by God’s grace, we will come back to winning ways,” said the former dashing opener.

The former India skipper said the selectors had a very healthy discussion with Zimabwean Fletcher about things that went wrong in the past season.

He said they also deliberated on what exactly happened on these foreign tours where Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men were beaten in eight straight Tests and also failed to live up to their tag of World Cup champions.

“One good thing is that we had Duncan Fletcher with us. We had a lot of discussions about the pros and cons, about what happened, what did not happen, what’s true and what’s not true.

“It was a very healthy discussion with Duncan Fletcher. We wanted to sort out everything and make sure this season starts with a bang,” he explained.