Team-work key to Lanka’s success, says Sangakkara

Chris Dhambarage

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara attributed Sri Lanka’s success to excellent team work after they defeated the touring Pakistan side 3-2 in the five match one day international series which concluded at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.

This was also Sri Lanka’s first ever series triumph at home in the shorter version of the game following their historic 2-0 Test series win that concluded earlier. Sangakkara stressed the fact that there were fair amount of complacency that crept into the camp after they had clinched the rubber in Dambulla.

The Sri Lankan captain further stated that they were keen to experiment with some of the other players and that also led to their downfall in the last two matches in Colombo to a certain extent.

Sri Lanka made a series of changes while resting some of their key players with the hope of giving the maximum exposure to the younger players in their attempt to build a formidable unit ahead of the 2011 World Cup in the Sub Continent.

Sangakkara believed that they need to groom the younger players by providing them more opportunities until they could settle with the right combination. The Sri Lankan captain also accepted the fact that batting under lights at the R. Premadasa Stadium was a tough task although they should have produced a much better performance.

Sangakkara said that the bowling department has been quite splendid throughout the series and commended the efforts of Thilan Thushara Mirando who carried away the Man of the Series award.

He also praised the performances of Nuwan Kulasekera and all rounder Angelo Mathews who was easily the find of the tour in both Test and one day series. However Sri Lanka’s batting did not click well with only Mahela Jayawardena making a significant contribution.

The former Sri Lanka captain ended up as the highest run getter for the home side and his match winning century in the third one dayer in Dambulla will be remembered for a long time after having been promoted to open the batting.