Sport - Cricket

‘India gave up easily’

Colombo: Sri Lanka lost its first ever home ODI series against India but its skipper Mahela Jayawardene said his side could not be nailed for lacking fighting spirit.

Jayawaredene even went on to say that his boys were better than the Indians when it came to handling pressure.

“I don’t think we could be criticised for lacking fighting spirit. Even when we were losing we were fighting. I think the Indians tend to probably give up a bit too easily,” Jayawardene said.

“We want to develop in our team that we don’t give up to the last minute. You can go through tough situations and tend to give in quite easily. We have to keep having belief in your ability,” he said.

The Lankan skipper said his team wanted to win the last game for the home crowd which was supporting them in all matches even after losing the series to India.

“Losing the series was very disappointing. But the huge crowd had supported us throughout the series and they turned up (for the last match) as well. So we had to give them something back to show the character of the team,” he said.

Jayawardene said he was happy with the bench strength Sri Lanka had in the fast bowling department.

“I think (Nuwan) Kulasekara and Thilana Tushara have been consistent for us. Lasith (Malinga) has started bowling and (Fervez) Mahroof is 100 per cent fit while Dilhara (Fernando) looks very good after the injury. So it is a good competition in the team which is good,” he said. — PTI

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