Jayawardene

Canberra: Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene said on Monday that his side would have won even if the Duckworth/Lewis system had not reduced their target at the Manuka Oval on Tuesday. He also showered praise on young Rohit Sharma.

The following are excerpts

On Sri Lanka’s performance

It was a crucial game for us and we needed to show some character. The guys did show some character and fought really well.

On the batting

We did well to grab the advantage of the first few overs but it was a good one-day track and they batted really well. We managed to restrict them to a decent score and carried out a well-calculated chase. All credit to the guys.

On the tri-series

Probably, all three teams have been very consistent in the last few months in one-day cricket. The triangular series in Australia is always a good tournament, brilliant crowds to play for. It would be exciting too.

On the victory

You can’t control the weather, but just got to play. If there was no game, we would have still complained... We were lucky enough to get a game today. They batted well to get 195 but the way Sanath Jayasuriya batted and Tillekeratne Dilshan carried on, we could have easily got to that total as well. The chase was calculated… we knew exactly what we wanted to do, kept wickets in hand so that we were not under pressure. Everything we did worked well for us. This is what one-day cricket is all about.

On Dilshan’s innings

We have always been playing around with the idea of having Dilshan up the order, but today when we realised that it was an important game and a good batting track, we wanted to go with an extra bowler. Dilly has done it (opening the innings) in domestic cricket, we asked him if he was willing and there he was.

On Rohit’s batting

Rohit has had a good start to the tournament. He is a newcomer, we haven’t seen him much. The more we play against him the more we can understand his style. But he is an exciting prospect. The way he handled the situation was excellent. You just need to give him some more time and see how consistent he can be.

On Jayasuriya’s innings

It’s always good to have Sanath going. We didn’t have a good start in Sydney but now we are getting back into rhythm and hopefully will continue to do that.