Jayawardene hopes team learns from mistakes

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, believes his team will need to cut out the mistakes they made in the first two games if they are to challenge a 'confident and consistent' Indian side in the remaining three matches of the ODI series. Down 2-0, Sri Lanka are one loss away from conceding the series, and Jayawardene said the team realises the importance of Tuesday's game at the Premadasa Stadium.

"We know exactly if we lose this we lose the series. This game is very crucial for us. We can't think too far ahead of ourselves but try and concentrate on the game at hand," he said. "I don't have to tell the boys. They understand the situation that we are in. I am happy with the way the guys are playing. There is nothing for me to tell to pull their socks up. They understand the mistakes we made in different areas of our game."

Sri Lanka lost the toss in both defeats, but Jayawardene felt it had not been that big a factor. "You can't complain about it," he said. "Like what we showed the other day it's not going to make much of a difference if you really work yourself into it [Sri Lanka lost by 15 runs chasing 257 under lights at the Premadasa]. The first ten overs with the new ball, whether it's under lights or not, is going to do a bit. That's something both teams have to cope with. After that you can bat normally I guess."

In contrast to what the scoreline suggests, Jayawardene said the teams were evenly matched, but admitted his side had been unable to "finish the job". "India's confidence level is pretty high because of what they have been doing in the last six months. They have been very consistent. India are in a stage where the players realise what their roles are in the team and they're trying to consistently do that. That's something we lack. We have the talent in doing it but we are not finishing the job for the team. If we can do that and create more pressure on them we can probably ask a few questions."

The lack of wickets for Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis - they have combined figures of 40-1-175-3 - was not a worry for Jayawardene. "The Indian batsmen are not taking chances against our spinners," he said. "I think that can work for us because they are not going for too many runs. At the same time if they can pick up one or two wickets I will be very happy.

"They have been consistent although they are not picking up wickets and they are bowling well. The other bowlers who have been match-winners for us are going for a few runs. If they can tighten up a bit more because they know India are taking chances against them they can create opportunities to pick up wickets."