“Whenever we had some kind of a partnership going, the Sri Lankan bowlers came up with a beautiful delivery,” the Indian skipper said. “With Malinga and the kind of action he has, you can’t really say you are set whenever he comes on to bowl. You have to start all over again. He normally brings the ball in, but in this match, we saw that he could take it away also. If you don’t pick even one delivery, you can be in trouble.”

Muttiah Muralitharan came into this Test needing eight wickets to complete 800 Test scalps, and ended up doing precisely that. “As an opponent, you always want to not give wickets to their main bowlers. If you are in the Sri Lankan dressing room, you don’t want Virender Sehwag to score runs at the top of the order, but it’s not always possible to restrain him. Similarly, you don’t want to give wickets to the best bowlers of the opposition. At times, they get the better of you. They bowl beautifully, they put pressure and get batsmen out. He bowled really well to get those eight wickets. I am really happy that at the end of his Test career, he has got to 800 wickets.”

There was a pat on the back for debutant Abhimanyu Mithun. “He bowled well,” Dhoni stated. “Mithun looked very fit. Throughout the innings, he was really up to the mark when it came to bowling and his fielding.  We saw today that he can bat a bit too. Overall, I am quite happy with him.”