Colombo: Suresh Raina who played a match winning innings of 65 to give India the lead in the five match ODI series against Sri Lanka said in the post match presentation ceremony that he felt that if he is there on the crease till the last over, India will win the match.

“Over the years I have played on many occasions in which we need runs at a required rate of 8 or above and that experienced helped me. Gautam Gambhir played a wonderful innings and laid a solid foundation for us.”

Raina also praised Irfan Pathan as their was the partnership that steered India home, he said “Pathan batted really well and supported me brilliantly.”
Losing captain, Mahela Jayawardene said, “It was a very good game but credit should go to the Indian team as they were the better team today and the result shows that.”

Jayawardene said that they gave away far too many runs upfront and their death over bowling was poor.

Indian captain MS Dhoni praised Gambhir and Raina for their stupendous performance. Dhoni said, “Gambhir gave us a good start and played brilliantly for his hundred. We were in a spot of bother after the batting power-play but Raina played amazingly well to take us home.”

On promoting himself to bat at number four Dhoni said, “In the last match our middle-order didn’t do well, so we wanted to have a solid foundation and a good partnership in the middle overs.”

Indian Sports News Network