A report in The Hindustan Times says that Team India will look to start the new season on a winning note when they take on Sri Lanka in a five one-day series starting in Hambantota on Saturday.
“It’s the start of a new season for us. It’s nice to start afresh on a positive note,” said Dhoni.
“There are certain areas we want to improve on, and it’s a good time for us to test how much we have improved and how much more we can improve.”
“I think it was a very good break and we wanted to make the most of it,” the report further quoted Dhoni.
According to a report in The Times of India, Dhoni feels that a successful ODI series in Sri Lanka would help Team India prepare well for the T20 World Cup and would be a confidence booster ahead of the T20 extravaganza to be held in September-October in the same country.
"Sri Lanka is not a new place for us. We have played series there at least once each year and even twice in a year. Conditions are also not so different from India and acclimatising to conditions will not be difficult. This Sri Lanka series is good for us. We have to come back in Sri Lanka again for the Twenty20 World Cup. It will help us," Dhoni was quoted in the report.
Meanwhile a report in Deccan Herald says that India enter the five match ODI series in Sri Lanka with a chance to leapfrog to the number 1 from their current fourth place in the ICC ODI ratings.
India last held the first position in 2009 September but then it was for a short period and now a series whitewash against the Lankans will see them regain the position.