Sri Lanka must find a way to deal with Kohli - Jayawardena

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said Monday his team must find a way to deal with India batsman Virat Kohli, who scored a fourth century in five matches to help his team win the first one-day international.
Kohli's 106 runs Saturday helped India to a strong total of 314-6 in the match. Sri Lanka managed only 293-3, losing by 21 runs.


Jayawardene said that even though the India vice-captain was not a major threat at the start of his career he has now become a formidable foe. Three of Kohli's four centuries in the last five games came against Sri Lanka and included his career-best 183 against Pakistan.

"I think initially when he started his career we picked his wicket quickly," Jayawardene said. "But like any good player he has come up with a game plan and he is executing that pretty well. Just the last few occasions he has got more confident against our bowling attack. It's up to us now to come up with a game plan."

The teams play the second one-day match Tuesday.

India's win showed that their lack of match practice after seven weeks of rest had not affected their form. India batsman Virender Sehwag said the team must now build on the good start to the season as there is a tough schedule ahead.

Jayawardene said his teammates had spoken about the mistakes they made in the match and hope to come back in the series.

"Obviously we lost the match the other day, but it wasn't a heavy defeat," he said. "We fought back really well."