Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu defended his bowler's performance so far in the one-day series, saying they have been up against an extraordinary batsman in outstanding form, Sachin Tendulkar.
"When Tendulkar is at the top of his game it is a bit of unfair to blame the bowlers. Murali and Vaas are among the world's top five bowlers. They can't become bad overnight," Atapattu said on the eve of the third one-dayer against India at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur.
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Tendulkar, returning to cricket from a six-month injury lay-off, has been in rampaging form and triggered a batting renaissance that has given India two big wins in Nagpur and Mohali last week.
"What can we do? Sachin is batting as well as he has right through his career. It is not easy to bowl to a batsman like Sachin. There is no point in putting pressure on the stars," the visiting skipper said.
Asked whether any specific strategy had been planned to contain Tendulkar, he said, "He is such a good player it is difficult to counter him. It is important to see him off early. If we can do that, it will make a big difference."
Tendulkar slammed 93 from 96 balls with nine fours and two sixes. He was particularly severe on leading off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
Atapattu had kind words for Muralitharan, saying he had not been bowling badly at all.
"In fact, he has the best figures among our bowlers. He bowled well with the wet ball in Mohali."
Asked about Irfan Pathan's good show, he replied, "The player is enjoying a purple patch; every cricketer goes through such patches. We have to be a bit careful and not give him early breakthroughs."
Atapattu said a good performance is due from the entire team now.
"Keeping Murali aside, we are all due for a good performance; we have the ability and we can bounce back. We need to come good as a team; there is no point in pressurizing individual players. The team has to perform as a group in order to emerge triumphant."
On Sanath Jayasuriya, Atapattu said, "He gets the arm taped before the start of the match. So he will continue not to bowl."
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