Sanath Jayasuriya in Nagpur on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Chandigarh: The Sri Lankans are peeved at being made to look like “poor losers.”

“We didn’t want to ‘boycott’ the Media conference in Nagpur yesterday, but were told that only the Man-of-the-Match would be required. As Rahul Dravid got the award, neither our captain (Maravan Atapattu) nor the coach (Tom Moody) interacted with the Media,” the Sri Lankan manager, Michael Tissera, told The Telegraph.

Speaking at the official hotel on Wednesday evening, Tissera (a former captain) added: “We’re upset at being portrayed as poor losers... Things went wrong from the very beginning and we just couldn’t pull it back. However, that wasn’t why nobody represented Sri Lanka at the Media conference.”

According to Tissera, the Team India Media manager Wng Cdr Mannepalli Baladitya had “categorically” informed him only the MoM would be required.

Reached for a comment, Wng Cdr Baladitya explained he’d “simply” followed the guidelines set out by the Board. “Mr Tissera and I have since spoken and somebody from the Sri Lankan side is going to be there before and after every ODI... Let’s look to the future and not keep going back to Nagpur,” he remarked.

Thanks to an Indian Airlines delay, both the Indians and the Sri Lankans landed here many hours behind schedule. The visitors, apparently, were keen on a light workout but the late arrival knocked that for a six.

The Sri Lankans, incidentally, attended a dinner hosted by a leading orthopaedic surgeon ? Dr Mandeep Dhillon ? who has often been consulted by Sri Lanka Cricket.

Meanwhile, dew is bound to be a factor in Friday’s ODI in neighbouring Mohali. It was so during the recent Challenger there and, a fortnight on, has become more pronounced.