Following a disappointing Test tour of Sri Lanka, Indian captain Anil Kumble expressing his thoughts said his side didn’t deserve to win, but heaped praise on Sri Lankan spinner Ajanatha Mendis, who picked up almost half of the Indian wickets in the three Test series.

The Indian batsmen struggled to pick the Sri Lankan debutant and their failure was attributed to the subtle variations the bowler possessed. Mendis was called a ‘mystery spinner’, but Kumble felt that more than any mystery, Mendis had the quality to trouble world class batsmen and he stood between victory and defeat.

"I felt that Mendis made the difference. Picking up 26 wickets is no mean achievement for any bowler. When Murali and Mendis operate in tandem, it’s not easy to score runs and we kept losing wickets. The pressure created by the two of them was massive," the leg-spinner who finished the series with just eight wicket at 50.00 said.

Understandably, he blamed India’s batting for the poor show. While India’s openers provided them with good starts consistently, the entire middle order failed to back up the openers’ efforts.

"The batsmen didn’t put up a good show here and that cost us the series. There wasn’t any consistency from the batsmen at all. We won the toss here. It was very good wicket. We got to a good start too, but didn’t capitalize. People got starts, but didn’t go to get big scores. For a new batter to go in and face two spinners is not easy. People who got starts should have gone on to get big ones. But having said that, I am not here to give any excuses.

Although Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jaywardene had given thumbs up for the referral system that was in place during the series, Kumble wasn’t sure whether it was good to use technology for leg before wicket decisions.

"There are few things that we need to assess. Television technology is not 100 percent accurate. We need to have some improvements. You don’t know whether the ball tracking is 100 percent accurate and whether television gives you the proper decisions on the height and other things. If that’s the case, there’s no point in going to the third umpire. I am sure people will sit down and have a discussion."