``Sachin's not faced me for the past three years, and that should give me an edge,'' Muralitharan told reporters Sunday. ``He's an exceptionally good player of spin, he reads the spin well and it's not easy to fix him.''

``I hope to make inroads into the Indian batting to clinch Sri Lanka - a vital victory,'' he added. ``There are no main targets, but any two or three wickets will be fine as long as that paces the way for our win.''

India tasted the offspinner's confusing 'wrong-un' during the final of a Sharjah one-day tournament in 2000, when he returned a match-winning haul of seven for 30 and bundled India out for 54.

But Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said it isn't impossible to play Muralitharan's 'wrong-uns.'

``It's not that you can't pick it. You can pick it if you keep watching his hand closely,'' Ganguly said.

In 2001, Muralitharan again returned to haunt the Indian batsmen in a tri-nation series in Colombo and Sri Lanka - won the title.

Tendulkar was sidelined on those occasions due to a foot injury and India felt his absence as it lost the test series and lost the one-day tri-series final in Colombo.

At the time, Ganguly said Muralitharan's away-drifter had made the difference between the two teams.

But since then India has played him quite often, Ganguly said, adding: ``When we were there last time in Sri Lanka - he was doing that. We have played him after he learned to do that. It's not that it's unpickable.''

Muralitharan now mixes the 'wrong-un' with his prodigious off-break and top-spinners so well that batsmen are often left slogging without any idea which way the ball is turning.

India hit back to defeat Sri Lanka - in all their encounters during last year's tri-nation series in England, which India won by beating host England in the final.

But this time Muralitharan was out of action with a dislocated shoulder.

Tendulkar and Muralitharan twice lined up against each other during the two rain-hit title encounters of the 12-nation Champions Trophy in Colombo last September.

On successive days, the final was washed out before Muralitharan could come on to bowl. India and Sri Lanka - shared the title, but the fans were deprived of the Tendulkar-Muralitharan showdown.

``Murali is a class bowler who can trouble any batsman in the world. The Indian batsmen are good players of spin, but tackling Murali isn't easy,'' Sri Lankan skipper Sanath Jayasuriya said Sunday.

Muralitharan's record tells the story.

The spinner has claimed 317 wickets in 210 one-dayers and says he's planning to add to the tally Monday.

(sn/vj-jp) Published: Sun Mar 9 15:34:20 EST 2003

The rebels fought a 19-year bloody war with Sri Lankan government forces which killed nearly 65,000 people. Fighting stopped after the two sides signed a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire last February.

The guerillas, who have their own army, are known to have used sophisticated weaponry smuggled into the island from various countries during the insurrection that has targeted numerous politicians, including Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993 and former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.

The newspaper said all contacts were ``immediately stopped,'' after it was discovered that the inquiries had been by the rebel group.

There was no immediate response from the Sri Lankan government.

Despite the truce, reports of arms smuggling by the rebels have persisted.

One such attempt was foiled last month when three rebels blew themselves up at sea after Sri Lankan navy and European truce monitors attempted to detains a Tigers' vessel, containing arms and ammunition, off the island's northern coast. Published: Sun Mar 9 05:06:41 EST 2003