Mahela: True team performance

2008-08-11 17:19

Colombo - Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said a true team performance was the key to Sri Lanka's 2-1 series win over India.

Sri Lanka won the third and deciding Test by eight wickets on Monday after bowling out India for 268 on the fourth day and then knocking off the 122-run target with ease.

"It was a very hard-fought series that drained a lot out of us," Jayawardene told the media. "We showed a lot of character especially to come back after the Galle Test.

"I am very happy with the players because they played really good cricket throughout the series.

"We kept the standards high, kept pushing ourselves and we never gave up.

"Credit should go to the whole team. I thought the difference was that we had a lot of contributions from different players throughout the series.

"Whenever we were in a situation that we needed somebody to put their hand up do something for us they did it. That's probably the most pleasing thing for me."

Jayawardene paid a special tribute to his bowlers who dominated a powerful India batting line-up all through the series.

Kept the pressure going

"The credit should go to the bowling unit for keeping India to a highest innings total of 329 in the whole series. Our guys went really hard at them and kept the pressure going."

Ajantha Mendis was the star performer for Sri Lanka with 26 wickets in his debut series.

"Ajantha was brilliant, adding a different dimension to the bowling attack," Jayawardene added.

"He has fitted into the dressing room well and has been very humble in all his achievements, which is great to see."

Anil Kumble said Mendis had been the difference between the two sides.

"In terms of the bowling, obviously Mendis was the difference, picking up 26 wickets," Kumble said.

"With Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) and Mendis together it is not easy to get runs off them and we kept losing wickets because of the pressure created by the two of them," he added.

"The batsmen didn't put up a good show here and it probably cost us the series. It was critical the middle order got runs and there was not enough consistency by the batters.

"Overall, Sri Lanka bowled better and took their catches better. They played better cricket throughout the series and they are deservedly the winners."

- Reuters