The changes brought good results - Mahela

Chris Dhambarage

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena said that the appearance of a couple of new players helped them win the deciding third and final test match and the series 2-1 against the touring Indian team concluded at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium yesterday.

Jayawardena noted that the younger players took up the responsibility and the senior players pushed themselves to the maximum and helped Sri Lanka to maintain their impressive record on home soil.

In fact Sri Lanka have now won 13 of their last 16 series at home and have not lost to India at home since 1993.

"The guys showed a lot of character especially after the Galle Test. This is an amazing effort. Sangakkara capped it off with a brilliant century. We have been consistent in the last 2-3 years away from home as well. Our game is coming together. The younger players have been able to take up the responsibility and the senior players really pushed themselves".

Jayawardena said that the bowling efforts of Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan really made the difference at the end. "Both Murali and Mendis bowled very well and kept the pressure on the good Indian batting line up.

We knew we wanted some extra pace and Dammika Prasad bowled with a big heart. We have seen him in the nets and that's what he did there. He didn't show much nerves and it was an excellent debut."

The Sri Lankan captain said that they were able to attack the famed Indian batting line up from the start and kept the pressure on until the end. India of course came in with a high reputation of having the best batting line up in World cricket.

But Jayawardena said that they had a game plan from the beginning and batsmen in the caliber of Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar never had the chance of dictating terms. Jayawardena also commended the referral system which was experimented for the first time in this test series.

"There were quite a few decisions which we would have ended up going back to the dressing room and would have been very disappointed with the umpires. But in this series we probably managed to turn around and say that we got the right decision at the correct time".

Meanwhile Man of the Series Ajantha Mendis said that he is delighted to have performed a world record in his debut series. "I didn't think too much and get confused. I just did what I knew 'the basics'. I got support from the entire teammates and the crowd. My family is extremely supportive and more importantly I feel that the whole of Sri Lanka supports me."

Mendis who captured a total of 26 wickets in fact received a pleasant surprise when he was presented with a special trophy for his record breaking achievement from Arjuna Ranatunga Chairman Sri Lanka Cricket Interim Committee.

The Man of the Match Kumar Sangakkara said that this was a hundred which he scored with a lot of difficulties but a memorable one considering how the series has gone.

"It was a case of getting as many runs as possible and to stretch the lead. The innings was set up by Chaminda Vaas and supported later by Prasanna Jayawardena and Dammika Prasad. I was a bit lucky in the 40s, but the key thing is to capitalize and go on to score runs. A hundred is a hundred but this was one of the tougher ones" said Sangakkara.