Captain Jayawardena justifies his reason

ELMO Rodrigopulle reporting, from Galle

It was a delighted Sri Lankan Captain Mahela Jayawardena who faced the media after the first Test victory against Pakistan and answered questions in his own inimitable style. Firstly he cocked a snook at his detractors who questioned his decision to bat a second time instead of enforcing the follow on having a big lead of 372 after making 472 and dismissing the opponents for 100.

He explained by saying that his bowlers had bowled a lot of overs and if he were to ask Pakistan to bat again it would have been an over load on them.

He had to look at the bigger picture and while he was convinced that they could beat Pakistan, he decided to bat on a good wicket, grind the opponents and set them a winning target that would be beyond their reach.

Being the Captain he knows best and with a clever cricketing brain knows what he is doing and always has the well fare of his team mates at heart.

He said that there has been a lot of improvement in the team after the England series and is looking to build on those positives for the future. As for the UDRS, he said that he has always been in favour of it. He explained that if the UDRS is in place it will ease the pressure on both the umpires and the players. He singled out for special mention Tillekeratne Dilshan’s century, Kumar Sangakkara’s near double hundred, but did not want to blow his own trumpet and speak about his half century in addition to his brilliant captaincy.

Of the bowlers he spoke highly of Nuwan Kulesekera who has come into Test cricket after a long time, Nuwan Pradeep who bowled with a lot of hostility and was lavish in his praise for his two spin twins Rangana Heath and Suraj Randiv. He also mentioned that he missed left arm paceman Chanaka Welegedera who has a shoulder injury and who could be out of the series. He also said that he was happy the way the youngsters are performing and that it augurs well for Sri Lanka cricket.

As for the injury to opener Tharangas Paranavitarne he said that there was no serious damage and that he should be okay for the Second Test at the SSC starting on Saturday..