Cricket World Cup: Tillakaratne Dilshan column

The team had high hopes of winning the World Cup but it is very sad that we lost to India in the final.

I have only taken part in two World Cups, but it is sad - really a very bad feeling - that Sri Lanka were runners-up on both occasions.
Full credit to India. India played better cricket, they outplayed us in all three areas - batting, bowling and fielding.

I would have been happy with my performance had I stayed in for 10 more overs and built a better partnership with captain Kumar Sangakkara.

After Upul Tharanga went early, as a result of Zaheer Khan's superb bowling, I was forced to take a step back and made sure I stayed in. If I had stuck with my natural game and played aggressive shots, there was a danger of India taking my wicket.

I think it was the most unfortunate occasion I got out during the tournament. The ball did not touch the bat - it hit my armguard, my pad and then hit the stumps.

I am sure had I stayed in a bit longer, we would have scored more than 300 which in turn might have changed the final result.

I don't know what exactly happened, but according to Sangakkara, they did not hear it as the thousands of fans started cheering.

Sangakkara usually calls 'heads' and he did the same for the final, but Dhoni and the match referee Jeff Crowe did not hear it.

We made four changes to the team that played the semi-final against New Zealand. Angelo Mathews was injured, but we made all the changes in good faith in order to win the game.
It was a collective decision, the whole team discussed the changes on Friday, and the responsibility is shared by all the members of the team.

Had we won the World Cup, many would have praised those changes but it is natural that some are now questioning them.
We had to select Thisara Perera and Nuwan Kulasekara to replace Mathews, who is a very strong batsman in the lower middle order, as losing Mathews was a big blow.
Kulasekara built a very important partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, and Suraj Randiv bowled well but unfortunately could not get a wicket.
In my opinion everything, including the changes, went well apart from the fact that we did not play to our full potential, and India simply did not give us any opportunity.
Getting their openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulakar out early gave us the advantage, but Gautam Gambhir built two strong partnerships with Virat Kohli and Dhoni - and these were the turning points in the game.
After about 30 overs, the pitch did not offer any support to the bowlers as the dew began to appear.
Some have been asking why we did not change the bowlers as Kulasekara was hammered by the Indian batsmen in the last overs.

Kulasekara bowled well in previous matches during the batting powerplay and overall, our bowlers have performed really well throughout the tournament.