Lankans take a forward step, Bangladesh a step back

There were raucous celebrations from the Sri Lankan cricketers at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo last night following their comprehensive 122-run win in the third ODI against Bangladesh, which helped them to a whitewash in the three-match series, as some of the players gave a victory lap with motor bikes around the ground.

There was a bit of concern for a few minutes during the victory lap as one of the members of the team, who was riding a bike with Shehan Jayasuriya, suddenly fell to the ground.

However, with no serious injury, both managed to stand up on their feet as the crowd cheered them with a huge applause.

Much like the way those two managed to get up and start their celebrations again, Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne said that the comprehensive series win against Bangladesh is the beginning of a new journey for his team.

And why not? It's the first-ever series win for Sri Lanka at home after nearly four years, and it's a great start for Karunaratne and his troops after a somewhat disappointing sixth-place finish in the World Cup earlier in the month.

"I think after the World Cup we have to start again and I think this the time we have to find some new talents. We have a couple of tours both home and away and we are looking forward to giving opportunity to the players and find some new talents. We want to form the best 15 players for the next World Cup," Karunaratne told reporters after the match.

From Bangladesh's point of view, it was another step back following their own disappointing World Cup, where they finished eighth. During the series, the Tigers never looked like putting up a fight and faced crushing defeats in all three matches.

The visitors lost the first match by 91 runs, the second match by seven wickets before conceding he 122-run defeat yesterday -- the biggest margin of defeat in the series in terms of runs.

Soumya Sarkar, who was the only significant performer with the bat for the Tigers yesterday with a score of 69 in their innings of 172 in chase of 294, earmarked top-order failure along with below-par show in all three departments as the main reasons for their downfall.

"We have to admit that we played badly and failed as a team. Above that they [Sri Lanka] have won a series after almost four years at their home. They have played well and got the result. For us it was about playing our best which we couldn't do unfortunately. The pressure built on us with the top order not performing. I think a bit of indecision also played in our mind," Soumya said.