Angelo Mathews blames batting failure for loss against India

Colombo Disappointed with his teams repeated batting failures Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews yesterday came down hard on his batsmen saying their approach isnot right and he needs to sit down with selectors to sort out issuesAngelo Mathews PicAFPComing into the game with the series tied at 11 Cheteshwar Pujara struck an unbeaten 145 in the first innings to give India the upperhand in the decidingTest Responding to Indias 312 Lanka were shot out for 201 and lost the grip on the match The cause for our defeat is our first innings battingAfter winning a crucial toss and putting them in bowlers bowled well We could have kept them below 250 But we should have batted well earlier on but we flopped said Mathews after the 12 series loss The wicket was a bit demanding but Pujara batted brilliantly He held the innings togetherIf not for him they wouldnt have scored that many runs Our batsmen need to grab opportunities As I always say we dont have Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara anymore If we can score 350 all the time we will be good But we are struggling to get 300 and its a concernWe messed up with our batting and Pujara played well When we batted I dont think our approach was right We couldnt bat and make 300 We will sit down with selectors and address those issues he added Given to chase a mammoth 386 to win the match Lankan batsmen once again faltered only to see some resistance fromMathews 110 and Kusal Perera 70 who stitched a 135run sixthwicket partnership to give the hosts some hope on the final dayWe need our top order to fire Chasing 385 we could have done it had we had wickets in our hands We lost three wickets for 20 runs which was a bit too many You cant expect the middle order to score that many runs But there were lots of positives though Kusal Perera batted positively I thought he grabbed his opportunity and he looks a tremendous player said MathewsMathews played the lone hand with his 7th Test hundred as Lanka were bowled out for 268 runs Mathews now urges his players to step up after the departure of Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene I have played a few games now about 52 Tests I am a little bit more experienced than some of the other guys in the team Now its past Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene era and others need to step up Now it has to be a collective effortIt wont be a case of one individual or two individuals scoring runs all the time Those who get starts need to go on said the skipper The greentop wicket at the usually placid SSC didnt help the hosts but Mathews said he did not meddle in the curators job We try not to ask for wickets We give the curator the freedom to do what he wants SSC has been super flatIn the recent past we have had one win and we havent won that games at SSC Its a good batting wicket Leaving grass it could go either way We picked a team we thought was good enough to win on that wicket But we couldnt put it through he said about the pitch The only batsman to offer any resistance in this Testapart from Mathews was debutant Perera who played two counterattacking fifties in two inningsPerhaps his debut came a little too late in the series for the hosts liking as it could have freed up Dinesh Chandimal to bat higher up earlier He batted brilliantly I thought he has earned his place especially in the A team where he has been prolific Even in ODIs he has been in good nick As I always say youcant pick and chose a time to play Test cricket I am glad that he grabbed the opportunity given to him said MathewsWe wanted Chandimal to bat at number four He was batting well and it was a good opportunity for him It was tough for him to keep wickets and bat at number fourespecially after keeping for 100150 overs that too in this humidity Kusal missed two chances but overall he had a good Test We are confident he will do a good job Thereiquests not much difference between the two wicketkeepers Maybe he was a bit excited making his debut he addedSri Lanka have now lost two successive home Test series to Pakistan and India both by a 21 margin With the departure of their greats Mathews has a tough job on hishands resurrecting their fortunes in this tough transitional phase For Pakistan and India series I think we were well prepared Its just a matter of applying those good things in the middleIts a challenge This is a new and young team You have to be patient You cant win matches easily It has to be a collective effort We dont have seniors and itstough We all need to contribute to win Mathews signed off