We failed to deliver, admits SL coach

Moody stressed it was just one of those days when Indians had outdone them in all departments.

Admitting that it was a batting collapse that let his team down, Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody, while giving full credit to the way the Indians have gone about in the first two games, said they could still bounce back in the series which they were trailing 0-2.

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"The bottomline is that our performance today was much below par. We batted very poorly," Moody told reporters after the match on Friday.

He stressed there was nothing wrong in the quality of his side, but it was just one of those days when Indians had outdone them in all departments.

"We failed to deliver and could not set a target which would have given our bowlers a chance to go at the batters," he said.

Regarding Irfan Pathan's performance, he said his team had lot of respect for the Baroda speedster.

"I would like to think that we have given him few wickets and not necessarily say that he tricked out batsmen by beating them all ends up," he said.

About the islanders' middle order not clicking, he said it was not to be blamed when the top order could not fire.

"The middle order does not begin the game, they finish them (the game). It is just that our middle order was exposed to pressure," he said.

About two comprehensive wins by the Indians against them, Moody told a questioner that it did hurt the Lankans' pride.

To another question, Moody was quick to react saying "there will be no curb on the players playing their natural game despite these two losses."