Kumar Sangakkara admitted his decision to bat first had failed after his team went down to an eight-wicket defeat against India.
Sri Lanka skipper rues inept batting display in Dhaka
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara admitted his decision to bat first had failed after his team went down to an eight-wicket defeat against India in the triangular series.
After winning his fourth toss in a row in Dhaka, Sangakkara opted to bat first despite the fact no team has won a match while doing so in the one-day series so far.
India seamer Zaheer Khan (3-38) and Amit Mishra (3-38) made their opponents pay by claiming three wickets apiece to restrict Sri Lanka to just 213.
Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli then hit half-centuries while Dinesh Karthik made a breezy 48 as India eased to an eight-wicket victory inside 33 overs.
Effort
"We had to learn something today, but I don't think we learnt much," Sangakkara said.
"Luckily, it's not the final and hopefully we can take something out of this experience and prepare ourselves better.
"We did not have a predetermined total in mind; we were looking to take things as they came, play each over on merit and not get ahead of ourselves.
"But our batting effort today wasn't much to speak of. We have got to assess conditions, look to score runs and build partnerships.
"We have to make sure we are positive and focus on the task at hand rather than be worried about what the opposition or the batsman at the non-striker's end is doing.
"We know we are a much better team than this effort suggests, but we have a lot of hard work to do."
India secured their place in Wednesday's final with this victory and also went some way to avenging their defeat to Sri Lanka earlier in the series.
Consistent
The win also means Monday's match against host nation Bangladesh has now become inconsequential.
"This was easily our best effort in the field in the last 12 months," India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.
"Zaheer was superb with the ball and it was an excellent effort form (Sudeep) Tyagi as well considering he is playing only his second ODI.
"This surface didn't offer too much turn, but Mishra varied his pace and length very well.
"The credit, however, should go to the fast bowlers for the kind of start they provided although when you are chasing only 215, it means everyone in the team did their part.
"Dinesh batted very well and it was unfortunate that he missed out on a half-century.
"Gambhir too had a big score for the taking, but wasn't able to capitalise.
"Kohli has been very consistent in the last few games and this augurs well for him and the team."
