The fallout from disastrous performances in the first innings of the first two games was thorough unpleasant. Bangladesh were subject to a lot of scrutiny and some harsh criticism from almost all quarters but there was a surprising lack of action yesterday. It seemed that everyone had accepted their fate and that first innings were consigned to being a lesson in failure.

People were more interested to know whether the weather would favour a Sri Lanka clean sweep in this three-match series against Bangladesh.

It was impossible for the Bangladesh team to avoid this issue but any semblance of 'truth' was only revealed off the record. From the start of the Test series the message to "write positive" was distinctly clear, but yesterday even that request had to be withdrawn because it was impossible to derive pluses from 131 runs.

"Everything has remained the same. The only thing I can say is that the players should understand their responsibility," was the brief reaction of selector Akram Khan, who is touring with the team here.

"There is a lack of individual drive in our team which is a big problem in our cricket," one commented under condition of anonymity.

The Bangladesh team management might have tried to find alternatives to explain the repeated failures of their batsmen but spin-wizard Muttiah Muralidaran's evaluation was as straight as they come.

"Some Bangladeshi batsmen have got good technique and they are also not very bad players against the spin bowling.

But the problem is that they are not mentally good enough to cope up with the pressure of Test cricket," said Murali, who claimed six wickets for 28 runs in the innings.

The ace spinner also raised question about the necessity of a three-match series against Bangladesh as he believes that a two-match series is good enough for the country.

"In our initial stage we played one-off Tests on most occasions and it was also true for the other teams. Bangladesh also need the exposure to improve their performance but the problem is that too many bad performances have demoralized a team," he defended.

"Bangladesh cricket is on a learning curve. They are taking longer than any other country. We have to give them the opportunity. Then only can they improve. Otherwise if they stop playing Test cricket and play one-day cricket they won't adjust to the system. They should play more four-day cricket with 'A' teams against other nations. When you get beat so often very badly it also demoralizes them," he said.

He also came down hard on Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful, when he was asked about his ability to play against him.

"He is a talented batsman but a 22 average is not a standard for a top order batsman. Even Chaminda Vaas has the same average," was his distinctly uncharacteristic reaction.

"I have already taken a hundred wickets in two other venues at Galle and SSC. This is the third. It is not easy to take 100 wickets in each venue. Not many people have done it," said Muralidaran who described his performance of taking a century of wickets at Asgiriya International Stadium as 'a tremendous achievement in a long career'.

This man has every right to make such a bold statement because he has always tried his best even though he achieved lot in the game. Just one example from yesterday's event was good enough to realize his hunger: a ball popped up at short mid-off and he ran as if his life depended on the wicket of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, and dived full-length to come up with a sensational left-hand catch.