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 one-day internationals, said they could still bounce back in the series after trailing 0-2.
- 2nd ODI: Sri Lanka mauled again | Images
"The bottom line is that our performance today was much below par. We batted very poorly," Moody told reporters after the match in Mohali on Friday.
He stressed there is 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 pace bowler.
"I would like to think that we have given him a few wickets and not necessarily say that he tricked out batsmen by beating them all ends up," he said.
Asked if Sri Lankans' recent outings against weaker opposition like Zimbabwe and, what their captain Marvan Atapattu called, the "second rung" West Indian team had anything to do with their poor performance against a formidable Indian side, Moody said "I don't want to read too much about it".
About the islanders' middle order not clicking, he said it is not to be blamed when the top order could not fire.
"The middle order does not begin the game, they finish them. It is just that our middle order was exposed to pressure," he said.
Moody was quick to react saying: "there will be no curb on the players playing their natural game despite the two losses."
