After the Sri Lankans received yet another deadly blow, it seems the referee should pass the KO verdict. Today after the seven-wicket loss, skipper Marvan Atapattu seems to suggest that they can’t take it any more. Talking to the media after Sri Lanka’s fifth loss of the series, Atapattu said: “It is all about getting some momentum early in the series. When you are down in a long series like this one and when things are not going your way, it is very difficult to come back.” He also agreed that Sri Lanka have put up a very poor display in batting, particularly today as 196 was never a challenging total for the Indians, especially on batsmen-friendly tracks like the one at Rajkot. Though two-paced, Atapattu said that the track was comparatively better to bat early on as the ball was coming nicely to the bat. The Sri Lankan captain said the wicket was dual-paced but “there are no excuses to have lost the match in such a manner.” Sri Lanka started off with a flurry of boundaries as both Sanath Jayasuriya and his new opening partner Upul Tharanga came hard at anything that was even slightly off target. Not only their openers but every batsman in the top order found the boundaries quite early in their innings, only to be cut short by irresponsible shots one after the other. It was again down to the Ahmedabad saviours Tillekeratne Dilshan and Russel Arnold to bail them out. But some tight bowling by the Indians and an equally potent ground fielding put the visitors in a spot. Without taking anything away from the Indians, Atapattu said that Mutthiah Muralitharan’s presence and a few more runs could have made a lot of difference to the final outcome. “It makes a big difference to have Murali. We missed him badly. The amount of turn the wicket was taking later on. his presence would have helped us greatly. But he is more important for us in Tests and we want to preserve him for that.” But still, they want to finish the tour on a winning note as that will help them gain some confidence coming into the Test series. “We would like to finish on a winning note, forget this series and plan for the longer version of the game,” added Atapattu, looking ahead to the lfinal one-dayer at Vadodara on Saturday.
