Kumar Sangakkara described his team’s dream run of success against Pakistan as ‘the good times’ but warned them to be also prepared for the bad ones after Sri Lanka had won the third one-day international at Dambulla on Monday and taken an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. The fourth match of what is now a dead rubber takes place at the R Premadasa Stadium under lights on Friday.
“When you’ve got a team that’s trying really hard it becomes easier, these are the good times. You got to plan for the bad times as well, which is surely going to come, and make sure you have the reserves, the mental and the physical strength to go through them. If we keep trying to improve we’ll have less bad patches and have more good ones and we can achieve consistency,” said Sangakkara after leading Sri Lanka to a ‘double’ success win in the Tests 2-0 and now in the ODI series in his maiden effort as captain.
Sangakkara admitted to some early lapses by Sri Lanka but lauded his team for the manner in which it fought back to emerge victorious. “There were a couple of situations where we showed a lack of maturity by not really closing the door on Pakistan in the Test series in all three games, but then we showed a lot of heart and a lot of hunger to come back in those tough situations and turn matches around. We got a long way to go again and we got lots of areas to improve. Every single player is not really satisfied that he is really there yet, but I think as a team it’s a really good feeling everyone is responding well. We are looking to play better cricket and improve.
“We had a great game the bowlers tried very hard on a wicket that was really good for batting. The only area that we really got to improve on is our fielding. We got another 20 percent to give out there. We could have probably kept Pakistan down to 240. What can you say about the batting of Mahela and Upul it was just amazing a double hundred opening stand when you are chasing 280. There is nothing more you can ask for,” he said.
Sangakkara was all praise for former skipper Mahela Jayawardene’s century which set up Sri Lanka’s victory after regular opener Sanath Jayasuriya had to pull out of the team in the morning because of a stomach bug.

Mobitel CEO Suren Amerasekera congratulates man-of-the-match Mahela Jayawardene during the awards ceremony at the third ODI against Pakistan played at the Dambulla Stadium on Monday. Sri Lanka Cricket deputy CEO Ajith Jayasekera and Urban Development Minister Rohana Dissanayake are also present (Pix by Pushpakumara Matugama)

“Mahela always bats well when he is free to play his strokes. Unfortunately and unfairly for him we put him under a lot of pressure over the years by losing too many wickets upfront but today he had a free hand to go out there and enjoy himself and express himself fully. He was really rearing to go out there and open and hit the ball,” said Sangakkara.
Jayawardene who scored his 11th ODI hundred and his first since the 2007 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand at Kingston said that it was a great wicket to bat on with the harder ball coming on nicely onto the bat. “I just took my chances and played straight as possible. Once I got into that groove I was very confident that we could finish this game off. Unfortunately with the cramps I couldn’t finish it off, but the rest of the guys did the job for us. It was easier batting on a wicket like this.”
“A hundred is a hundred I definitely enjoyed it. Wish I could get more hundreds like this but it depends on the situations that I bat but today I knew that after the first 15 overs I just had to bat through. Unfortunately with the cramps I couldn’t finish the game off for the team that was disappointing. Opening the batting wasn’t a big thing I’ve played enough cricket to realise how to handle the situation,” said Jayawardene who’s opened the batting for his country only once before in an ODI against Zimbabwe at Harare in 2008.
Jayawardene said that he volunteered to open the innings when he heard that Jayasuriya was not going to play. “At breakfast this morning when I got to know that Sanath was sick I went up to the coach and the captain and told them ‘if you want me to open I would love to ’cos we could have a right and left hand combination and as we didn’t have any openers who were coming into the side with the experience to go up and bat. I knew the conditions were going to be difficult and I thought as a senior player maybe I should take responsibility on this occasion. Sanath was an experienced player we’ve lost upfront and to take that burden from the team I asked them to give me an opportunity to go out and bat as well to get my confidence back.”
Jayawardene played an attacking knock, suffering cramps along the way, making 123 off just 108 balls to put his team on course for a comfortable win. His innings was laced with 14 fours and a six before being terminated by Abdul Razzaq. “While opening the batting you can take a few chances, calculated risks and try and build the innings. That’s what I tried to do. I know I won’t get that opportunity batting at number 4 because you have to bat according to the situation and then go after the run rate if you’re especially chasing runs. Today it was much easier for me to get a good start and continue to bat.”
“Wish I could get more hundreds like this. Today I knew that after the first 15 overs, I just had to bat through. Unfortunately with the cramps I couldn’t finish the game off for the team, which was disappointing.”
Twenty20 cricket, Jayawardene believed, did have an impact on his strokeplay when it came to ODIs. “T20 has definitely changed the approach,” he said. “We’ve got new freedom and the way we’ve gone about in the IPL and Twenty20 international matches, you have that confidence of playing those big shots at the right time. It’s all about getting control out there and creating those opportunities, that’s what we did.”