Colombo: Suresh Raina, who was given the man- of-the-match award for his stellar performance in the third ODI, said that over the years he has learnt how to bat under pressure with the team needing over 8 runs an over. “I learnt over the years how to bat when you need eight an over. So playing under such situation wasn’t a problem. I think Gautam Gambhir played very well early on and set the platform for us. Irfan Pathan too played liked a pure batsman. As for me, I looked to play straight and avoid playing the cross shots. I knew I could hit over cover and over midwicket. I also wanted to run hard and convert single into twos and twos into threes. But credit goes to Gautam. He batted very well," said Raina.

Indian skipper MS Dhoni said that he was happy with the overall performance of the team and that the team has to forget about the bad memories and look for the positives going into the next match. "When I and Rohit got out in successive deliveries, I always thought we had a chance as Gautam was still batting and then there was Raina to come. We always believe in his batting. We also had Irfan and Ashwin. I think those two wickets did change the game but then Gautam did really well. We needed one of the top three to put in a performance like this. We need to improve our death bowling, and our fielding. But overall I was happy with our performance," said the Indian skipper.

Meanwhile Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene said, "It was one of those days when India outplayed us. They are a quality team. I thought we played a good game. We did commit a few mistakes. Up front we were not putting enough pressure in the chase. We bowled poorly towards the end and dropped Suresh as well. It's tough when you lose, but you try and re-focus for the next game."