We have to start from scratch in Kanpur: Sangakkara

On a batting beauty of Motera, runs came in a deluge while bowlers bled profusely. Though India escaped to a draw, Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara refused to read too much into it while going into the second Test at Kanpur next week.

"There's no psychological edge for us. It's Even Stevens now and we have to start from scratch in the second Test," said Sangakkara in the post-match presser on Friday.

"I expected the wicket to be a little more helpful after what happened in the Test between South Africa and India the last time around. We also did not take our chances. We let it go after reducing India to 32 for four (on the first morning). There was very little there for the bowlers in the last two days," he said.

It was Rahul Dravid’s splendid century (177) and captain MS Dhoni defiant 110 that helped India recover from a disastrous start. India went on to score 426 runs, though Lanka returned to put on a massive 760 for 7.

Sangakkara felt the pitch was of little help to the spinners on the final day and therefore they struggled to put any pressure on India batsmen. Though he felt left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, who grabbed two wickets, outperformed Muttiah Muralitharan.

Sangakkara also praised rookie left-arm pacer Chanaka Welegedara for making the most of his last-minute inclusion after frontline new ball bowler Thilan Thushara pulled out of the match just before the toss because of a shoulder injury.

"When you know you are not going to play and suddenly five minutes before the toss you are told that you are playing it's becomes difficult. But he's bowled very well. He's been out of international cricket for some reason and let's hope he does the job in the remaining part of the series," Sangakkara said.

Keeper-batsman Prasanna Jayawardene also came for some praise by his skipper Sangakkara. He scored an unbeaten 154 and was involved in a world record 351-run partnership with Mahela Jayawardene (275) for the sixth wicket.

"Kaushal Silva (second keeper) is pushing him now. We have seen Prasanna performing better with the bat and the glove when he's under pressure. He's done so against England when we were 60 for five against England," Sangakkara said.

While congratulating Sachin Tendulkar on his 43rd hundred and reaching the landmark of 30,000 international runs, Sangakkara said it was Sachin who intended to continue play in the last hour. "We wanted to go away and asked Sachin, but he wanted to continue to get to his 100," he said.