Mahela Jayawardene believes Sri Lanka have all the momentum heading into the second Test against Pakistan.
Batsman says Sri Lanka are in the ascendancy ahead of second Test
Mahela Jayawardene believes Sri Lanka have all the momentum heading into the second Test against Pakistan.
Sri Lanka saved the first Test in Abu Dhabi thanks to a double century from Kumar Sangakkara after conceding a first-innings lead of 314 runs.
And former captain Jayawardene feels like his team are already 1-0 up in the three-match series.
"We definitely came out of a hole," Jayawardene said. "I think that shows a lot of character.
"If you can come away from a Test match like that, it gives you a lot of confidence knowing that we're still in the series and that we have an opportunity to come back at them.
"We felt Pakistan were a bit negative not even trying to chase it down so that felt better on our part knowing how they felt about that situation.
"Now we realise, OK fine, we're probably one up on them."
Pressure
Sri Lanka have failed to win a single Test since the retirement of spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in July last year, but Jayawardene believes the onus is on the batsmen to create the opportunity for the bowlers.
"That's something that we need to work on," he added. "We've got an inexperienced bowling attack but we need to give those guys some time to settle into their roles and create opportunities.
"One way of doing that is by putting runs on the board and creating other pressures on the opposition."
Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez felt the bowling was one of the main positives for his side to take out of the draw in Abu Dhabi.
"The positive thing for me was to take 20 wickets in the game because we were lacking that over the past couple of years," he said. "You cannot win the game if you do not bowl the other team out twice."
Hafeez was guilty of three of six dropped catches by Pakistan during Sri Lanka's fightback. Sangakkara was grassed on 56 while Prasanna Jayawardene, who went on to score 120, was on 10 when he was dropped.
"I don't think there was any problem, we just dropped some catches we should not have," Hafeez said. "This is the game of cricket. Sometimes you work really hard and it doesn't go your way."
The second Test starts on Wednesday in Dubai.
