17 June,2009 08:25 AM IST | | AFP
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara saluted beguiling spinner Ajantha Mendis yesterday after his side reached the World Twenty20 semi-finals with a 48-run win over New Zealand.
Sri Lanka join South Africa as well as Pakistan and West Indies in the last four.
Mendis took 3-9 at a crucial time when the Kiwis were well-placed at 64-2, chasing 159 to win.
"Ajantha was brilliant. He is very difficult to read and he has an attacking mindset. It's a great ability to have," said Sangakkara.
"He has a great leg break, but he varies his deliveries depending on whether or not he is bowling to a left- or right-hander."
Semi-final line-up
Sri Lanka will play the second semi-final at the Oval on Friday against either South Africa or, more probably, the West Indies.
Despite their perfect record in the competition, Sangakkara believes there is still room for improvement. "It was a great batting performance from Tillekaratne Dilshan (48). He was brilliant," added the skipper, who insisted he always believed his side could win despite the Black Caps' storming start to their reply.
"We knew that after the first six overs, and the fielding restrictions were lifted, we could pull them back. Now we can build on all of this and see where it takes us."
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, whose team would have made the semi-finals had they won as their run-rate was better then the Sri Lankans', admitted batting had let them down.
"It was a gettable total today but in three major matches our highest score was 120," he said.
"We got off to a decent start, then capitulated in the middle. But they have a wonderful attack and deserved to win.
"We had a very comfortable draw. We played a couple of minnows and were then in a position to reach the semi-finals. But we didn't take our opportunities."
