Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara said the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) should be implemented for all series. “When the ICC has said the review system should be implemented for all series, I do not know why it was not implemented for this series. It was a handicap for us,” he said.
Rough decisions
Sri Lanka received a few rough umpiring decisions in the Test and Sangakkara said, “The absence of the review system cost us around 500 runs and a lot of wickets.”
He, however, said India was the better side. “We were out-batted and out-bowled, mainly out-bowled.” Sangakkara said his spinners could not build pressure. “They did not send down too many maiden overs.”
The pacemen created chances but the opportunities were not cashed in by Sri Lanka, he added. The Sri Lankan called Dhoni a good leader but said the Indian had some distance to travel yet as a Test cricketer.
On India getting to the World No. 1 spot in Tests, he said, “The way India has played in this series; it probably deserves to be there.”
Hurt
Sangakkara said Test cricket was not played among only four countries. He was hurt that Sri Lanka was not a part of the ICC discussions on introducing a two-tier system in Test cricket. “We were the No. 2 Test side in the world then and we were not even consulted.”
Looking back at the third Test here, Sangakkara said Virender Sehwag’s 293 made the difference. “We had nearly 400 runs on the board in the first innings. And we were looking at restricting India to within 450 in the first innings. Had that happened, it could have been a very competitive match and we could have set India a good target on the last innings when there would have been turn and bounce for our spinners. Sehwag took it away from us.”
He also said Dhoni’s century was influential. “His century at the end made it extremely hard for us.”
Sangakkara added, “We are a better side than the 2-0 scoreline suggests. The series could have been a lot closer.”
