Mirpur, Mar 14: Sri Lanka fell 50 runs short of their target while chasing India’s total of 304 in their opening match of the Asia Cup. Healthy contributions from the likes of skipper Mahela Jayawardene 78 and Kumar Sangakkara 65 couldn’t quite see the Lankans through as India tightened the noose with some incisive bowling.

Jayawardene gave no excuses for his side’s poor performance and praised the Indian team for their poised performance during the post-match press conference.

Excerpts:

On Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir’s partnership

Both of them batted really well; we had a couple of half chances that we didn’t get hold of. Still, 300, I thought, was gettable on this wicket. We batted really well but made quite a few mistakes that probably cost us the game.

On his team composition

With the injuries we have it is tough to get a combination. With Thisara [Perera] and Angelo [Mathews] both injured, we are trying to come up with the best combination; we tried a few things in Australia as well. [On this] wicket, we felt [we required] an extra batsman while chasing. I thought we were always in control of the game for quite some time except for my bad shot and then a few wickets in the Powerplay.

On what went wrong in the match

I think what you try to do is set yourself up; you’ll catch up [with the runs] in the Powerplays. Losing two wickets in the Powerplay; that is what didn’t go our way. We needed to make sure that we kept a few more wickets in hand. Maybe we should have accelerated in the second or third over of the Powerplay. There are a lot of ifs and buts. I should not have played the shot I played, we were cruising at that time, totally in control, so it’s not about putting blame on individuals. We probably gave away 15 runs on the field. It’s crucial that we don’t make mistakes in a big game like this.

It’s not just one individual or the bowlers who are to blame; we as a team made quite a few mistakes in this game. In the bowling, in the last 10 overs, we’ve given 95 runs with the field back. We probably should have done better. We are a side that usually executes our gameplans a lot better, which we probably didn’t [today]. We were up against two quality batsmen; still I am being too hard on the guys. We like to set standards, with the bat as well; we took control of the innings.

On Virat Kohli’s good form

He has been in very good form ever since that hundred in the Test match in Australia. When you are in good form you need to capitalise [on it] and that’s what Virat [Kohli] is doing. He is showing a lot of maturity as well, the way he is handling himself.

On the Indian bowling line-up

It depends on the day, we attacked certain bowlers – [India] have got a quality attack, a lot of variations. I don’t think they have a bad attack, I thought they had some quality bowlers. Irfan [Pathan] bowled really well and so did [Ravichandran] Ashwin, in that little period. He is probably the one who took the game away from us.

On the lack of rest after the CB Series

After the Australia series, we made a conscious effort that we needed two days off. We played five games in ten days including travelling. And then we had a 24-hour-long trip to Bangladesh so we needed the two days off and because of the situation yesterday we were forced to rest. And I think the boys were quite happy with that.

On his catch to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar

It was tough for me to judge if I took the catch cleanly or not as well. When you are in that 15-yard circle, everything happens quickly. I think Sachin felt that it bounced before it went into my hand. I didn’t see the replays; I hope the catch was clear.