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Home > Cricket > Sri Lanka's tour of India 2005 > Report


First game was difficult: Moody

Onkar Singh | October 27, 2005 20:38 IST

Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu hinted that there could be a few changes to the side that lost the first one-day international to India at Nagpur on Tuesday by a huge margin of 152 runs.

"There may be some changes but we have not finalized our team as yet. As far as the game at Nagpur is concerned, the better team won, India had outclassed us in all the departments of the game. Sachin Tendulkar [Images] got off to a good start," he told reporters in Mohali, on Thursday.

Coach Tom Moody said nothing had gone wrong as far as strategy is concerned, but the Indians took advantage of the situation.

"We had a couple of close calls in catches and run outs. The first game was a difficult one," Moody said.

Moody and Atapattu, who inspected the Mohali pitch, thought that both the toss and due would be crucial factors in the match.

Atapattu admitted that his team had been playing matches against weak teams in the past.

"We have played against Zimbabwe and second string West Indies [Images] side but we have also played against India and South Africa as well. We have a long series ahead of us and one defeat should not dishearten us," he added.

He pointed out that it is always a challenge to play against the home team, which has the advantage of playing on familiar pitches and conditions.

He was not disappointed with Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling in Nagpur and said that he bowled well but there are times when you don't get wickets.

"He is part of our bowling attack but there are others who are also important part of our bowling strategy," he said.

 


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