Mistakes a source of concern: Mahela
First Published : 07 Aug 2012, 23:25
Last Modified : 07 Aug 2012, 23:25
Kandy, Aug 7: There was not much that Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene could say after his team fell 39 short of the gettable 156-run target that India had set for them in the one-off Twenty20 International.
Sri Lanka have always been known as a tough team to beat at home. But in their last couple of home series, India have defeated the hosts by huge margins. This time the Lankans suffered another humiliation as after being outplayed by a margin of 1-4 in the ODI series, they also conceded the T20I without a fight.
Jayawardene put it down to the mistakes his team are making and the quality of cricket that India are playing.
Excerpts:
How would you explain your poor home record against India of late?
With the mistakes we have been making, it is getting tough for us to compete. Even today, we were into the game after restricting them to 155, which was an achievable target. But we kept losing wickets upfront and didn’t consolidate. In the end we had to score at 7.5-8 runs per over and we didn’t even bat 20 overs. We have been making a lot of such mistakes and we need to control them.
Is it a worrying factor as a team or is it just that India are getting better of you on most occasions?
It’s not a big worry; we’re still playing some good cricket. It’s just the matter of pulling ourselves together and focus on the job at hand. It obviously gets tougher when you’re up against a team like India who are playing really good cricket. But on another day we have to ensure we execute our game-plan better.
It’s the Sri Lanka Premier League for you now?
Yes, it starts next week. We’ll have to get in the mindset for it and prepare for the World Twenty20. It should be a good preparation for us.
