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Hard lessons for all

Al Musabbir Sadi
The Sri Lankan cricket team will leave for home with more questions than answers after the poor show by the much-vaunted top-order batting despite winning the Test series against Bangladesh and a tri-
nanon one-day tournament.
In the month-long tour, the islanders struggled in the first Test as the hosts scored 400 odd runs in the fourth innings but in the end, they whitewashed theTigers 2-0.
But their show against Zimbabwe was no good, although they won by a big margin, and losing to Bangladesh in the last league match that booked the home side's place in yesterday's final came as a blow.
To make things worse, Sri Lankan toporder was crudely exposed against Bangladesh's pace attack in the final. Mahela Jayawardene's men, chasing 153 that looked like a 30-over target for them, stumbled to six for five wickets - - the lowest score for which a side has lost five wickets in a ODI -- before Kumar Sangakkara and Ferveez Maharoof set the stage for Muttiah Muralidaran to swing his bat and defy an electric atmosphere at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on way to snatch victory from the jaw of defeat.
And Jayawardene admitted that things have gone wrong in the past month.
"I am not happy about all the departments. The wins were important but we have to analyse what wen t wrong, the batting was inconsistent and we return with some batting concerns," told Jayawardene after winning a thrilling final by two wickets.
"Probably the way we played we didn't deserve to win but it was amazing the way we came back. Hats off to the way Kumar batted
and Maharoof came back to the team. And the way Murali finished it was brilliant
"We never really looked like winning this game until the last overs. We kept fighting and i t was a great game.
"It was a very good final, not just the final itself, a very good game of cricket, that's what you need to take out of this."
The Lankan captain, who has just one Test hundred to talk about this tour, praised his bowlers.
"Guys bowled really well up front and the fielding was excellent. It was disappointing the way we batted though, losing five wickets for six was terrible: a couple of run outs and the way the top order batsmen got out. Probably we were not at the best but in the end of the day what matters is winning it," added Jayawardene. "We came here to win the Tests and the ODI trophies and we did it."
When asked whether they were relaxed after facing a paltry target, Jayawardene said that was not the case.
"We wanted to bat positively, specifically when you chase small totals you have to be very positive. We knew initially the new ball would be something we had to negotiate but losing Sanath (Jayasuriya) in the first ball of our innings was not the greatest start and we didn't have the momentum. (There had been) a couple of bad shots.
"Bangladesh didn't give us easy runs either. Kumar found it difficult and couldn't score easily initially. Once he started spending more time, he dug deep. We also sent a pinch hitter but that didn't work. Overall, we didn't handle the situation well, to be honest we did not at all. To come away with a win when you are five for six. I am quite happy as captain."
Jayawardene said Bangladesh have improved much in the last two years and time
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has come from them to realise that they can beat the top sides of the world.
"Bangladesh were amazing. They played well the other day, got the bonus a point and beat us," he remarked referring to their 5-wicket loss to theTigers.
"They should take a lot of credit from this tournament. There were a couple of brilliant individual performances, Shakib was brilliant but the unsung hero was Mashrafe with the new ball. He created a lot of opportunities for Bangladesh taking early wickets: it's always crucial and throughout the tour, the Test and the ODIs, he was the most consistent of the lot. They need to work hard, it's the way to improve."
He was also sorry for the rude awakening of rookie Bangladesh paceman Rubel Hossain, who had taken four wickets on debut against Sri Lanka but conceded 32 runs in his last two overs of the finaL
"It is tough in international cricket and it was surprising to see him (Rubel) for the few last overs in a big. tough final. I feel sorry for him but I think he has talent and would learn from it."
Man of the final Kumar Sangakkara thought it was his turn to score on a day the others had failed.
When asked about his success, a patient but match winning 59 off 133 balls that was so unlike of the classy lefthander, he said 'there wasn't
any secret'.
"It was a case of just batting and try to get as close to the score as possible. We rarely see that sort of collapse in our batting line up because we have some of the best batsmen in world cricket today but you get off-days and when that happens, other guys who take start must get the job done. Finally, who scores the runs doesn’t matter," Sangakkara opined.
Sangakkara had a rather quiet tour with the bat but he is prepared to take things as it come.
"You get a couple of good balls, that's way cricket goes. I think the key is to fight it out, bat for a long time and make a good innings of it Hopefully that innings would be in a game that we won.
"But today, 1 believe Murali should have been man of the match without doubt He was amazing, fantastic. He changed the entire game. Bangladesh just came back with two wickets but he scored 30 odd runs off just two overs and we won. Not just his bowling, he has now won us a game with his batting."
Sri Lanka will definitely start soul searching as Sangakkara admits: "We had to fight the whole tournament. These were games we should have won a lot convincingly. It was hard lessons for both sides. In the end our experience made the difference."