Dilshan's wicket made all the difference: Sehwag

Praising his bowlers for restricting Sri Lanka to a modest total, Indian captain Virender Sehwag said Tillakaratne Dilshan's wicket made all the difference in the home team's comprehensive seven wicket win in the third one-dayer on Monday.

"Dilshan is in-form, it's difficult for any bowlers to stop runs from him. When Dilshan was batting the run-rate was well about 10-12 runs but Ashish Nehra gave the breakthrough. After his dismissal the run rate dipped," Sehwag said at the post-match press conference.

Sehwag was all praise for his bowlers who brought the home side back after the Sri Lankans looked like scoring 300-plus at one stage.

"Nehra's experience worked. He conceded just 32 runs from his six-odd overs in the middle to ensure that we remained in the game which at one stage I thought they would score 300-400. I think Jadeja and Harbhajan bowled really well and Ishant Sharma came up with a very good three overs taking two wickets in two balls," Sehwag said.

"Especially Jadeja was very impressive, that was the reason we could restrict them under 250. I am very impressed with Jadeja who bowled his 10 overs conceding just 32 runs and claiming four wickets. It's a dream thing for a captain.

"Sri Lanka got a good start but we came back taking seven wickets 20th to 35th overs which was crucial. All credit to Jadeja," said Sehwag, adding he had to bowl in between as the home side were India running three overs slow.

Sehwag, however, defended his new ball bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ishant, both of whom had a poor start as Dilshan and Upul Tharanga were batting with disdain.

"It's very difficult for fast bowlers to contain the batsmen. We are batting and they too are batting well. I told them to bowl in good areas so we can restrict them under 300 and then Dilshan got out."

Asked about the restrained knock from Sachin Tendulkar who hit the winning runs remaining unbeaten on 96, Sehwag said, "He is playing for over 20 years, he knows how to get runs as per the situation. He is the best player and batted as the situation demanded that's how we won the game."

On Indian fielding, he said, "I think we did better on the field today. When Robin Singh was there we would drop catches missed fielding also. But he was very good in practice and drills but it's not in our hands whom to retain or not."

When asked whether Yuvraj Singh was yet to recover fully as he was fielding on the boundary instead of his normal place at the point, Sehwag said, "Yuvraj himself is the best to answer this."