Adelaide: After registering a comprehensive win over Australia in the second final of the tri-series, Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene today said that the key to his team’s success against a tough opponent is to “compete well at all times”.
Sri Lanka’s eight-wicket win at Adelaide on Wednesday is their sixth win in the last eight games in Australia, including four in the present series.
“The way to do is to compete with them at all times. You must be able to handle a few situations better than them,” said Jayawardene after the day’s play.
Australia today bemoaned islanders dominance in the powerplay and death overs but Jayawardene said they purposely didn’t targeted the home bowlers in those phases of the match.
“We have batted with controlled aggression today, though we took the extra risk. We look to break down the target and play according to the situation,” said Jayawardene.
Extremely disappointed with his team’s effort in the field earlier in the day, Jayawardene said it was his one of the team’s worst performances of the tour.
“We were dropping everything. With just four bowlers (in the ranks), we had to pick wickets. It’s our one of the worst performances of the tour. We can laugh about it now but it would have cost us (the finals),” he said.
Jayawardene, who picked up an issue with umpire Bruce Oxenford after he had delayed in terming a delivery no-ball bowled by Ferveez Maharoof, admitted that he became hyper.
“I am culprit for carrying it on a bit long and have been fined (10 per cent) for it. It’s good though once in a while to do so but I was hyper (than required).
“My issue was not the no-ball but how late the call was made.” (PTI)
