Stand-in Indian captain Virender Sehwag said he feared at one stage that Sri Lanka would score 350 in the third One-dayer and gave full credit to his bowlers for bringing the home team back into the game with a disciplined effort in Cuttack on Monday.
"At one stage, I thought Sri Lanka would score 350-400 the way they were going. But Ashish Nehra bowled well in the Power Play and then Ravindra Jadeja and Harbhajan Singh took over to change the game. They kept the ball slow and low," Sehwag said after India's seven-wicket victory to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
"At one time Sri Lankans were 165 for one and our bowlers did a terrific job to bring us back into the game. They took wickets at crucial moments. Full credit goes to them," he added.
Sehwag lavished praise on Jadeja, who produced his career-best 4 for 32, for turning the game in favour of India.
"When Jadeja took over, the game changed a lot and he bowled really well. He brought us back into the game after the Lankans were going great guns. He also bowled economically giving away just 32 runs from his 10 overs and took four wickets," said the Delhi dasher.
He also gave credit to his batsmen for capitalising on the good show by the bowlers and praise Tendulkar in particular.
"We began well and I utilised the first few overs well before Sachin (Tendulkar) took over. He batted really well to take us through," Sehwag said.
Man-of-the-match Jadeja described his performance as his best so far and hoped to carry on the fine form in the next two games also.
"This is the best performance of mine. I took four wickets and maintained good line and length and bowled wicket-to-wicket," Jadeja said.
He said he got a lot of help from the wicket while bowling, which helped him keep the ball slow and low.
"When I was given the ball, only one thing was in my mind, to keep it straight and wicket-to-wicket to build pressure on Lankans. I did just that and enjoyed my bowling," he said.
Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara said his side lost the momentum in the middle overs when Jadeja took over the bowling and failed to build partnerships to put a defendable total on the board.
"We were going well at 165 for one, but then Jadeja came in and we lost the momentum. We lost too many wickets in quick succession and failed to build partnerships that eventually did us in," Sangakkara said.
The Sri Lankan skipper also said that his fast bowlers failed to take wickets with the new ball and did not shape up well to defend the total.
"We need to take wickets with the new ball, but that just did not happen. We know that there were not enough runs on the board, and to win the game, we need to take wickets.
"However, our bowlers gave their best and worked hard. Lasith Malinga was good, but in the end the total was not enough," Sangakkara said.
