'Nothing comes easy' - Atapattu

After defeating India on Sunday, Marvan Atapattu, whose fever forced him to go off the field, expressed his thoughts on his flu, the game, and the lessons learnt in Australia.

Like most teams in the recent past, Sri Lanka's performance after their Australian tour improved be leaps, a change Atapattu attributed to the challenging cricketing environment there. "The Australian tour has helped us immensely. It has made us work very hard in all departments," said Atapattu. "Australia is the benchmark against who other countries can gauge their strengths and weaknesses." With a loss in a low-scoring game and a draw in another, without their main bowler, Sri Lanka performed commendably.

"Look at India, how they have improved after their tour of Australia. Bangladesh has also shown signs of improvement after touring Australia. Our tour to Australia in 1995 saw us win the World Cup a few months later. Likewise on the recent tour we have also learnt that nothing comes easy. You have to work very hard against a team like Australia because they don't give anything away easily."

Atapattu could afford to sit out the encounter against UAE, for they were not expected to create problems for Sri Lanka. But the soreness in his throat showed no signs of abating when he returned to play India the very next day. As he batted towards his half-century and then beyond it, he battled the Indians, a bad throat, and a sapping fever. Unable to take it any longer, he left Mahela Jayawardene in charge halfway through India's innings.

"I had a sore throat while travelling upto Dambulla and it gradually got worse," Atapattu explained. "By the 25th over of the Indian innings I knew I couldn't stand it anymore. My whole body and limbs were aching." But now, two days on, the fever has subsided, and streams of antibiotics have raised his hopes for the game against Pakistan tomorrow.

While Sri Lanka are likely to have their captain back at the helm, Sanath Jayasuriya will probably not make it. This team sorely misses his presence, his bowling and his batting. "We will want Sanath in the side as early as possible," said Atapattu. "We have many options when he plays. We had to make up for the seventh batsmen's position with two allrounders: Chandana and Maharoof." The two performed pretty well, even though Chandana went for eight-an-over against India. But when 552 runs are scored in a game, bloated figures like Chandana's are not uncommon.

Still, Sri Lanka contained a top order that had not relented for most of the last season. Even after dismissing four batsmen, they had a job on their hands. "Although we had that early success we always had it at the back of our mind that India's batting runs down till No. 7. The dismissal of Dravid came at a crucial time in the game, which eventually turned out in our favour."

Dravid, the man most likely to take India to victory, was bowled off an inside edge by Muttiah Muralitharan. From there on, the game was Sri Lanka's.