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

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.

Paceman Dammika Prasad is an injury doubt, though Nuwan Kulasekara, Sri Lanka's most effective new ball bowler in recent years, is expected to return.

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 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."

Key Players

India: Amit Mishra is likely to turn his figures from the first Test around and prove that he is more a more than worthy second fiddle to Harbhajan Singh.

Sri Lanka: Ahmedabad's stalemate saw Dammika Prasad produce considerable pace on an otherwise dull track. Expect him to trouble India's pace-shy batsmen again.

Prediction

After the opening Test's bore draw, here's hoping for a bit of a contest. India to pip the visitors at the post due to a superior bowling attack.

Last Five Head-to-Head Results

2009: First Test: Match drawn in Ahmedabad
2008: Third Test: Sri Lanka won by eight wickets in Colombo
2008: Second Test: India won by 170 runs in Galle
2008: First Test: Sri Lanka won by an innings and 239 runs in Colombo
2005: Third Test: India won by 259 runs in Ahmedabad

Likely Teams

India: Mahendra Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavitana, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Prasanna Jayawardene, Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Herath.

Dates: 24-28 November; First Session: 04:00-06:00, Second Session: 06:40-08:40, Third Session: 9:00-11:00 (all times GMT)