Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has urged his players to brace themselves for a battle against India in the second Test in Kanpur tomorrow.

India battled to a draw in the first Test in Ahmedabad, despite being reduced to 32 for four inside the first hour on the opening day.

Sangakkara rued the missed opportunity and, while he does expect his team to carry forward positives from the match, believes a psychological advantage is not among them.

"There is no psychological edge for us," Sangakkara said. "It is even-stevens now and we have to start from scratch.

"We are a little disappointed, but ultimately it was the wicket. It was not what we expected.

"Even so, we had them at 32 for four and then we gave it away. We were always positive in our thinking but we can only learn from our mistakes, carry the positives and move on."

Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan, who had paved the way for Sri Lanka's run fest in Ahmedabad with a century, is expected to take his place at the top of the order despite suffering a bloody nose during a football game in practice.

From the benign surface at Ahmedabad, the focus has now centred on the strip at Kanpur, a venue which invited censure from the International Cricket Council after India secured a one-sided victory inside three days against South Africa in the last Test here in April 2008.

The battle set to unfold on Tuesday will be played out on an adjacent strip, but India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni expects a better performance from his bowlers regardless of the surface.

"I think we leaked too many runs in the first Test," Dhoni said. "It was pretty tough work for the bowlers but they were still eager to bowl and I was pleased with their attitude.

"But I think we ought to stick to more disciplined lines."

As for his side's batting, Dhoni added: "We are a side that looks for partnerships, even if we lose a couple of wickets. One long innings makes it pretty easy for us.

"The pace (at which we score) doesn't really matter because we have players in the side who are capable of lifting the run rate if required.

"The middle and lower order contributed in Ahmedabad and that is a good sign."

Dhoni has also backed his spinners and indicated he would persist with the expensive leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who returned figures of one for 203 in Ahmedabad.

"I am satisfied with our spinners," Dhoni said. "If you look at it, the greatest bowler (Muttiah) Muralitharan, was in the opposition, bowling on a fifth-day pitch and even he produced no results.

"It was difficult for our bowlers too."

Mendis in the reckoning

Meanwhile, Sangakkara ruled pacer Dammika Prasad out of the second cricket Test against India and said mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis is very much in his scheme of things for the match.

Prasad, who prised out the scalps of VVS Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the Ahmedabad Test, had strained his hamstring there and Sangakkara said the team was not considering the 26-year-old right-arm pacer even though there was no such apprehension about in-form batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan who broke his nose while playing football.

"Dilshan broke his nose but is perfectly fine now.

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Dammika strained his hamstring and is recovering well. (But we are) not considering him at this moment," Sangakkara said.

Muttiah Muralitharan shared the spin responsibility with Rangana Herath in Ahmedabad with little success and Sangakkara said chances are that Mendis would break into the playing XI.

"Ajantha is always in the reckoning. With the confidence and balance our team has, we can play three spinners if we want to. Or we can also replace Dammika Prasad with another fast bowler. Or we can also change a spinner. We have quite a few combinations on mind and it would take a concrete shape by the evening," he said.

Sangakkara conceded Muralitharan's below-par show in Ahmedabad was "unusual" but dismissed suggestions that Sri Lanka paid the price for their over-dependence on the wily off-spinner.

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