JOIN US Disappointed at losing by a mammoth margin, Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews said they wanted to play positive cricket but the Indians proved too good for them.
Asking time for a young side to gain confidence and shape, the all-rounder spoke to media after an emotional match that saw the Kumar Sangakkara bid farewell to his career. Excerpts.
On mindset: We wanted to play positively. But it was a realistic target. But we still wanted to be positive, bat till tea and see how it goes. If we have a chance we can go for it. But unfortunately I got out off the very first ball and that set the tone for India. Had I hung around for a little bit more it could have been a bit more different. They bowled really well in the first session and we just could not be positive against them.
On R Ashwin: Ashwin is doing things pretty simple. He is just getting the basics right and he is turning the ball and creating a lot of pressure. He bowls pretty accurate and has been a tremendous bowler for India over the past so many years and continuing to be so. We need to find out a way to counter-attack him. We have to be positive. We can’t just hang around. He will bowl the odd good ball anyway in an over. We just have to look to be positive and score runs against him.
On sides found wanting batting for time: We didn’t bat for the time to be honest because the wicket was pretty demanding and it was the fourth innings. As I said before, Ashwin was bowling brilliantly. He was putting a lot of pressure from one end. And from the other end the rest of the bowlers put a lot of pressure on us. We just couldn’t hang in. I think our approach would be the same, to score runs on whatever day you bat on or the innings we bat in. We just have to plan to score so that you put your negative thoughts away and keep going. That was out intention. The target in this match wasn’t a realistic one.