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Colombo: India Test captain Anil Kumble blamed the inconsistency of the middle-order batsmen for losing the series against Sri Lanka after going down in the third and final Test by eight wickets on Monday.
The following are excerpts:
If Mendis made the difference
Yes I think so, in terms of bowling, the effort of Mendis was the difference. It was not easy to pick runs when Mendis and Murali were bowling together.
On the mystery surrounding Mendis
Don’t think there’s any mystery about him.
What cost India the series?
I guess the batsmen did not do well. And that cost us the series. The middle order not getting the runs proved critical.
On what went wrong in batting
Having won the toss here, it was important to get a big score. Did not capitalise on the good start we got. To start against two spinners is not easy and it was important for batsmen who got a start, to carry on. We are not offering excuses, overall we did not play good quality cricket.
On the referral system
It is too early to say anything on the referral. Few things have to be assessed. Teething problems with technology is there for sure. Will have to sit down and discuss.
On Sachin and Sourav’s failure
It is not Sachin and Sourav alone, it is important for everyone to contribute. The middle and lower order did not contribute. I take full responsibility and we lost a good chance here after a good win in Galle.
The areas that need improvement
All three areas need improvement. We maintained pressure in certain situations but could not make them count.
Couldn’t technology be used to better handle the spinners?
Technology in terms of video and computer analysts do help. Sometimes you grow up in a certain way of playing spinners and it cannot be changed. The batsmen got out to soft dismissals throughout the series and that did not help.
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene on Monday gave credit to his whole team for the series win against India.
The following are excerpts:
On the series
The series drained us… lot out of us but I think Sri Lankans showed a lot of character, especially to come back from the Galle Test match.
Who gets the credit?
I am very happy with the players because they played very good cricket. Although we lost the Galle Test, I think we still played very good cricket. We kept the standards high. We fought and never gave up. Credit should go to the whole team. The good thing is that we had contributions from different players.
On the wicket
It was a good Test match wicket. Both teams initially bowled very well to create pressure. I don’t think the wicket contributed that much here.
On their plan against the Indian middle order
Sachin Tendulkar was a big part of their (Indians) batting line up. They do bank a lot on Sachin, Rahul and probably Sourav. We knew that we have to control those guys in the middle. We attacked them from game one.
DAY IV HIGHLIGHTS
Rahul Dravid scored his 52nd Test fifty, his 8th against Sri Lanka. He equalled the record of Pakistan’s Saeed Anawar (8 fifties) for the maximum Test fifties against Sri Lanka.
V.V.S. Laxman scored his 35th Test fifty and his second vs Sri Lanka.
When he reached 61, Laxman became the 8th Indian to score 6000 Test runs and became only the 4th Indian to have scored 6000 runs and take 100 or more catches.
Malinda Warnapura and Mahela Jayawardene scored their 4th and 32nd Test fifty respectively.
Ajantha Mendis became the 4th cricketer to win a man of the series in his debut series. While all others have done it away from home, Mendis is the first to do it at home.
Jayawardene, captaining in his 24th Test, has now won 13 matches. He went past Arjuna Ranatunga (12 wins) to be on the 2nd position on the list of Sri Lankan captains with most wins. Sanath Jayasuriya (18 wins in 38) has won the most number of Tests for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka won their second consecutive series against India at home. But more significantly, Sri Lanka have now won their last four Test series at home. Pakistan were the last team to beat Sri Lanka at home in the 2005-06 season.
(COMPILED BY MOHANDAS MENON)
