Before leaving for New Zealand with a view to joining the ODI and T20I series against New Zealand ,Speaking to the media after the all-religious rites held at the Sri Lanka Cricket Institute premises, Sri Lankan captain Charith asanka said that this is a very challenging match tour.Charit also said that the Sri Lankan team is ready to face it well. All the players in the team are in a good state of mind. Played the T-10 tournament. There, everyone was well between runs and wickets. In New Zealand we get 4 or 5 days for training.I hope to adapt to those conditions soon and play a good tournament. But this is a challenging tournament. They are a very strong team in New Zealand. Our goal is to win the tournament by minimizing the defects as much as possible.'

Sri Lanka also got the opportunity to participate in a practice match in this tournament. The Sri Lankan leader commented on that. It is a good opportunity to play a training match in a foreign country.
The first thing to do as a team is to get used to the conditions in New Zealand using all the required players. We hope to use the training match for that purpose.
Apart from that, while answering a question about the composition of the team, Charit Sasanka said this.
Do not expect to make many big changes in the team. We played well in the previous ODI and T20 series. One of the objectives of this tournament is to give the experience of the experienced players to the newcomers.With that aim, the newcomers are expected to get the best out of the experienced players. In New Zealand we need an extra fast bowler. Therefore, Dunit Vellala had to be removed from the team. It was a very difficult decision for me, the coach and the selection committee.
But when going to play under such conditions, such decisions have to be taken. But when playing on pitches that support spinners, we have to remove good fast bowlers from the team.'
The New Zealand tour of the Sri Lankan team includes 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs.The first Twenty20 match will be held on 28th at Bay Oval and the second match is scheduled to be held on 30th at Bay Oval. The third T20 match is scheduled to be held on January 2 at Sexton Oval.
The first match of the ODI series will be held on 5th January at Basin Reserve and the second match will be held on 8th January at Seddon Park. The third match is scheduled to be held on January 11 at the Eden Park International Cricket Stadium in Auckland.