Colombo, Sept. 2 :    Colombo, Sept. 2:  The Emerald Isle Wizard, Muttiah Muralidharan, was the cynosure at the SSC this morning, on completion of the three-Test series. Man-of-the-Match, Man-of-the-Series... 'He has no peers,' observed an admiring India coach John Wright, perfectly reflecting the general sentiment. Just the other day, Murali had told The Telegraph: 'A 15-wicket haul in a three-Test series satisfies me... Anything after that, makes me happy.' Well, after 23 wickets, this champion Sri Lankan sure can jump around. Murali himself preferred to thank teammates and made a mention of the growing number of quality quicks who, really, have made his task easier. 'I'm not the only one expected to get wickets,' he quipped. Bottomline, though, is nobody quite delivers like him. Predictably, both captains (Sourav Ganguly and Sanath Jayasuriya) paid rich tribute to Murali. Here goes: SOURAV: Look, Murali is a world-class bowler and, so, you've got to be positive and back your instincts. Basically, you shouldn't allow him to settle down. That, of course, can only be done by proper use of feet... I would also say one should look at the ball for as long as possible, before attempting a stroke... Good use of feet is bound to get Murali thinking... Idea, clearly, is to not allow him to bowl where he wishes to. JAYASURIYA: Oh, he was the one real difference between the teams... I know Murali had very long spells but, then, he himself isn't uncomfortable bowling that way. The secret of Murali's success, in my opinion, is his variety: He can bowl the one which zips through straight, can turn on just about any surface and even bowl leg-spin... That's quite a handful. He's the patient sort and doesn't mind waiting for the batsmen to make mistakes. Both captains also spoke generally. Excerpts: SOURAV: Plain and simple, the first day cost us this match and series... Just look at the Lankans... Four centuries in one innings and, right through the series, we couldn't even post one. There's no doubt Lanka batted us out of the series... At different times, many of our batsmen got starts but, then, lost their way. How can we, then, win a Test series? I agree Harbhajan Singh had, what I would describe as a quiet series, but he would have learnt from this trip. He has a long career ahead of him... In any case, at this level, there are no excuses and I'm certainly not offering any... Sure, we missed a clutch of top players, but can injuries be avoided? It's unfortunate not everybody made the most of opportunities which came their way. JAYASURIYA: On the eve of this series, it's our batting which had me worried. In the decider against England, for example (at the SSC itself), we were bowled out for 81 in the second innings and lost the series... Yet, this time, at least one of us got a century in each of the Tests (Mahela Jayawardene did it twice) and, in this game, our only innings produced four... As captain, I can only feel happy, more so for debutant (Tilan) Samaraweera and Hashan (Tillekaratne). Samaraweera batted with maturity, never for a moment suggesting it was his debut. As for Hashan, he was under severe pressure, yet came good. Our Kandy performance was such that lessons had to be learnt. As it turned out, the batsmen didn't repeat mistakes. Was I under pressure when this series began? Well, every captain is always under some pressure. After all, cricket gives no guarantees.