Dilshan took the game from us - White

Ravi LADDUWAHETTY reporting from Pallekelle

Australia believes that Sri Lanka skipper Tillekeratne Dilshan’s epic solo performance with the bat on Saturday was the sole criterion that took away the T20 curtain raiser here on Saturday night.

“There were some disappointments and some pointers to us and Sri Lanka totally outplayed us and we did not play as well as we would have liked,” a crest fallen Australian T20 skipper Cameron White told the post match news conference. How can we ever come back when Dilshan bats like that and that innings was comparable with New Zealand’s Brendon McCallum’s epic hitting of that nature and when someone scores a century in 57 balls it is hard to win the game from there, he said.

We did not bowl and execute well as we ought to have and Dislhan’s timing was perfect and he was capable of hitting the ball out of the ground in any way he desired, he said.

Granted that John Hastings and Shane Watson took a beating but had we got some quick wickets with Sri Lanka at 92/3, that would have changed the complexion of the game, he remarked.

We have to sit and think how we can get positive and aggressive and we have to think how we can get on top the next time that we meet again on Monday, he said.

Responding to a question from the Daily News as to whether he believed that his team could chase down Sri Lanka’s 198 for 3, he said that the target was feasible with the wicket and the outfield being fast and fantastic. The outfield was quick and the ball flies to the fence but conceded that 200 was difficult to chase in a T20 game . Asked by this newspaper as to what he believed went wrong with the Australian batting and bowling, apart from Dislhan’s batting heroics, he conceded that Dilshan was brilliant, but confessed that Australia did not execute as well as it liked.

From Australia’s batting point of view, it was great to see David Warner bat well, but the tragedy was that there was no one who was there to go with Warner for a few overs more. It was one of those topsy turvy games the Aussie T20 skipper said.