Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara today blamed his side's depleted bowling unit for the team's ODI series defeat against India.
Having already conceded the five-match series to India who have taken an unassailable 3-1 lead, Sangakkara said his team fought tooth and nail but the home side's superior bowling made all the difference in the series which concludes here tomorrow.
"We tried to get over the line but failed at crucial times. We should have won the first match (when Sri Lanka fell three runs short of India's 414) at Rajkot," Sangakkara rued.
"There wasn't any huge contrast between the two sides. In both sides, the batsmen dominated while bowlers were patchy.
"Unfortunately, we didn't have our full-strength bowling unit while India had their frontline bowlers. That made the difference," said the Lankan skipper, referring to the injuries to Thilan Thushara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara
Fernando and Angelo Mathews.
Despite the series defeat, Sangakkara, however, saw a silver lining in the emergence of youngsters.
"I'm happy with the way they have stepped up (the plate). They naturally lacked experience but served us well. (Suranga) Lakmal, Thissara Perera, Suraj Randiv — three of our best bowlers were debutants. Their raw enthusiasm will keep the regulars on their toes," Sangakkara added.
The Lankan skipper said his middle order colleagues could have done better but was not ready to blame them for the series defeat.
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