Mahela taking matters into his own hands

Mahela Jayawar-dene wants to take things forward on his own terms in Sri Lanka's crucial Asia Cup game against Pakistan today.
After their defeat to India on Tuesday, a Lankan win would keep them alive in the tournament though a loss would put them virtually out of the competition.
Having faced a similar situation during the hotly-contested CB series in Australia which ended just last week, Jayawardene is getting used to being on the precipice.
During the CB series, the equation was stacked against Sri Lanka during the latter stages of the round robin league after they were dismantled by Virat Kohli in Hobart. In their next game, a heroic return to form by Lasith Malinga put them into the best-of-three finals of the prolonged competition.
"We are quite used to that [do-or-die games]. We had quite a few of those in Australia but I think it's good to have it in our control where we don't have to depend on somebody else," he said during a pre-match press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
The situation however is slightly more challenging as there are a few injuries in their squad (Angelo Matthews having gone back home) but what's more demanding is the fact that Sri Lanka are playing a virtual semifinal after just one game in the competition.
"The amount of cricket we've played, we have trained ourselves to switch from one tournament to the other pretty quickly," said Jayawardene.
"We know how important the Asia Cup is and you can't make mistakes. Going into the game tomorrow, we need to control those mistakes. We want to make sure we are alive in this tournament," he added.
One of the ways that Jayawardene may keep his side alive is by playing more than the four bowlers he employed against India. With inexperienced leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna being given a go, it meant that not only does Tillekaratne Dilshan have to bowl all ten overs, it left very few options if one of the regulars got hit.
"It depends on the surface, which combination we want to play. We cannot get the right combination for the injuries. We like to keep changing things around. We'll have a look at the wicket and opposition and do what we need to do," he said.
Dav Whatmore, Jayawar-dene's former coach and the new man in charge of Pakistan, has said that they would also think along those lines.
The coach who has been in charge of Bangladesh as well, wants to go through to the final with a win today. "It is very important for both teams. If we win, we are more or less through. The preparation has been okay, a couple of days to lead up to the second match. We had an opportunity to look at the opponent yesterday. We will try and put our best foot forward," he said.
It will also be Sri Lanka's first opportunity to avenge their defeat to Pakistan in the UAE in November last year.