PHOTO: AP

Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid jog on the Golle Face beach after rains spoilt their plans for the practice.

Colombo : Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid on Friday, said his team's emphatic series victory when it last met Sri Lanka would not give it any psychological advantage in the upcoming tri-series since the host was a very difficult opponent at home.

India had thrashed the Lankans 6-1 at home in October last year, but Dravid said its Asian rivals had come a long way since then. ``I don't believe in such things as psychological advantage. The 6-1 win was a long time ago and lot of water has gone under the bridge,'' Dravid said at a press conference ahead of the tournament which has South Africa as the third team.

``All three teams start on even footing and it will be a matter of who gets used to the conditions fast and better,'' the Indian skipper added.

Dravid said India would find its task that much harder as the Lankan team has been on a roll with good performances in England followed by the 2-0 Test series win over South Africa and the African team was no easy meat either.

``Sri Lanka has played well recently and the series in England has given it confidence. It has the momentum going and it is specially formidable at home,'' he said.

On Pathan

Dravid denied Irfan Pathan was being subjected to ``too much workload'' and said the hype over his brief loss of form was only because he had raised the expectations of everyone by his performances.

Dravid summarily dismissed Pathan's own reported comments to a television channel that by asking to open the batting as well as bowling, the team was leaving too much on his plate.

``I am not sure if Irfan had said that, but from whatever conversation I have had with him, I could say that he had never felt the workload was too much on him,'' Dravid said in his first press conference since arriving in Sri Lanka on Thursday night.

``I can say that Irfan had always enjoyed and relished the challenge. People should remember that he missed out only on Test cricket,'' the skipper said, referring to Pathan sitting out of three Tests on the recent tour of the West Indies.

``He hasn't missed a one-dayer. He is an integral part of our team. At this age (that Pathan is), you want to be given chances to showcase your skills. Pathan has probably had so much success that he has created such expectations of himself.

``That happens when you set such high standards for yourself.''

The south-west monsoon that had held itself back all through three weeks of the Sri Lanka-South Africa cricket Test series finally lashed the capital, throwing a spanner to the teams' practice plans ahead of the tri-series beginning on Monday.

Warm-up matches cancelled

The Indian team had to shelve the ideas of evening nets while South Africa and the host had their respective warm-up matches cancelled.

The African team was to play a warm-up limited overs game against a second rung Sri Lankan team. The Sri Lankan seniors were to play a Twenty-20 match between themselves in the evening.

The rains that started early last evening continued through the night and well into the morning on Friday.

The Indian cricketers spent their time relaxing in the swimming pool and a couple of them also ventured out for a stroll on the sidewalk running parallel to the shoreline opposite to the team hotel, enjoying the sight of waves crashing under a severely overcast sky.

The downpour though had stopped by noon and the roads were beginning to dry up. — PTI

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