Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said his side was 20 runs short while batting and rued the bowlers failed to get early breakthroughs in the Sri Lankan run chase in the second one-dayer, which the home side lost by three wickets.
"We were happy we got 300 runs it was a par score. We wanted to take a couple of wickets with the new ball to reduce the pressure on the spinners. But that did not happen," he said after the match.
"The first bowlers need to do well in such situations so that spinners could chip in later. The bowlers did not do their job. A couple of wickets and couple of good overs matter here," he added.
Asked India did have a chance to win after Tillakaratne Dilshan, who hit 123, was out, Dhoni said, "When Dilshan was out at that time we need to take wickets. But that did not happen. There were some fielding mistakes also."
"The kind of start we got while batting I think we could have scored 20 runs more. That could have put more pressure on the Lankans," said Dhoni.
Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara also felt his side could have restricted India to 260 and probably less had they dismissed Dhoni early.
"We could have restricted India to 260 and probably less had we removed Dhoni early especially me. We made scoring easy for them," he said.
Sangakkara praised Dilshan and debutant Suraj Randiv (3/51) for their fine show today.
"Dilshan is playing out of his skin. He is hitting hard and showing maturity in his game after every match. He and Upul Tharanga gave us a great start. The youngsters, especially Randiv and Angelo Mathews, have come through nicely and they have great future ahead," said the Sri Lankan captain.
Man-of-the-match Dilshan said he would never forget this year in which he had hit 10 centuries.
"I am having a great year. I have scored more than 1000 runs this year. It is a truly unforgettable year and I am thoroughly enjoying my batting," he said. PTI
