Galle: Having stayed under legendary Muttiah Muralidharan's shadow for the better part of his career, Rangana Herath feels that being in and out of the side over last decade is like "bread and butter" for him.
As recently as Sri Lanka's last Test match against Pakistan, Herath was dropped from the playing XI but the left-arm spinner has learnt to take it in his stride.
"That was not the first time that I was dropped from the team. I've been dropped from the team so many times. For me, it's like bread and butter," the irony of his statement was not lost on anyone after Herath's 7/48 turned the match decisively for Sri Lanka.
"Every batsman and bowler has been through rough patches. I have done a lot of good things in the recent past. So what I have thought is that that I've done something and I can do the same. So I trusted on that and went on," he said.
Asked about being Murali's shadows for a long time, Herath said, "I've played alongside Murali in 2009 and he retired in 2010. I didn't try to emulate what he did on the cricketing field. He is a legend and I don't think that I can even get closer to what he did. But on my part, I've tried everything that I could do," he added.
Herath said Ajinkya Rahane's dismissal was when they were convinced that they are winning the match.
"He was the man who could have changed the match. So I thought we can surely win when we got Rahane out," Herath said after the match.
After a listless spell in the first innings, the left-arm spinner made a splendid comeback in the second innings.
"I did bowl well in the first innings too, but unfortunately I couldn't get wickets. But we did realise something on how to bowl on this kind of pitches. With the spin bowling coach, we had a chat and put up a plan before the fourth innings. I am over the moon with my performance," he added.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews called his side's 63-run win a "great turnaround", saying that a "brilliant team effort" saved the day for the hosts.
"It was a great turnaround. We were down and out for the first three and a half days. Dinesh Chandimal's innings gave us some sort of life to come back into the game," said Mathews at the post match press conference.
"We batted really poorly in the first innings and really didn't give ourselves or our bowlers a chance to bowl well. In the first innings, Tharindu Kaushal was brilliant. All the bowlers bowled their hearts ou t. The second innings was amazing. Even Nuwan Pradeep's spell in the morning created a lot of pressure."
"It was easy for Rangana Herath and Kaushal to come and bowl. I thought it was a great team effort. No one had really given us a chance to win this game and I thought it was a brilliant team effort," he added.
"To be honest it was not an easy wicket to bat on. In the first innings, we played poorly. We were not positive enough. We kept losing wickets and didn't use our feet."
