Hailing his team’s show of character, Mahela Jayawardene termed Tillakaratne Dilshan’s match-winning half-century after his team defeated India by eight wickets at the Manuka Oval on Tuesday as a ‘brilliant effort.’

“It was a crucial game for us, we needed to show character and we did that,” said the Sri Lankan skipper. “It was a good one-day track, India made a decent score and our chase was well calculated. Credit to the guys. We have always given thought to pushing Dilshan up the order. Today, because it was a shortened game, we wanted to go with the extra bowler and therefore he opened. It was a brilliant knock from him.”

Sri Lanka were given a boost when, after India made 195 for five in 29 overs, their target was revised to 154 in 21 overs. “You can’t control the weather,” Jayawardene offered. “195 was a good total, but the way Sanath and Dilshan batted, who knows? We might have got to 195 pretty easily. We were never under pressure, we kept wickets in hand. Everything worked out the way we had planned.”

Jayasuriya got the Lankans off to a breakneck start. “It’s always good to have Sanath going,” Jayawardene acknowledged. “Not just us, any team will be happy to get off to a good start and keep the momentum going.

We are slowly getting back into rhythm, and hopefully, we will continue that form for the rest of the tournament.”
Rohit Sharma impressed Jayawardene with his brilliant unbeaten half-century. “He has had a good start to the tournament. He is a newcomer to a lot of us. He is an exciting prospect and handled the situation excellently today. Time will tell how consistent a performer he can be,” he said.