Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis said Saturday that teammate Muttiah Muralitharan played a key role in his success against India in his debut Test here. Mendis took eight wickets in the match as Sri Lanka thrashed India by an innings and 239 runs to gain a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series. The second match starts in Galle on Thursday. “It was obviously a fantastic moment for me,” said Mendis, an unorthodox spinner with plenty of variation. “To bowl with Murali helped me a lot, especially to get advice from him. The pressure he created gave me opportunities to pick up wickets. I am very happy with my start to international cricket. “I didn't feel nervous as I had senior players helping me around, especially Murali bowling from the other end. It was just another game for me. The important thing was that we bowled in right areas and created pressure.” Off-spinner Muralitharan, the world's leading wicket-taker with 746, was named Man of the Match for his 11-wicket haul. “He (Mendis) is a talented bowler. When I started, I just had off-spin and big turn. He has more variations and that's difficult for the batsmen,” said Muralitharan.“If he keeps performing this way, he will definitely take a lot of wickets in international cricket. Now that he has come, I think I can play Test cricket a few more years. “Bowling 50 overs in a (Test) innings is very hard. Now if I bowl only 30-35 and he bowls more than me, the job will get easier for me. I want to play one-day cricket till the (2011) World Cup.” Jayawardene backs review trial Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has backed a new experimental rule allowing players to seek a second opinion on umpiring decisions, saying it has succeeded in cutting down mistakes. Sri Lanka benefited four times under the rule during the opening Test against India. The rule, on trial in the ongoing series, allows a batsman or fielding captain to request a review of any decision by referring it to the third official monitoring television replays. “I am all for it, not because most of the referrals went our way but because we managed to rectify obvious mistakes,” Jayawardene said after the match. Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan was the first beneficiary. He was on one when initially given out caught by umpire Mark Benson of England on Thursday, but asked the official to review the decision. Benson consulted TV umpire Rudi Koertzen of South Africa before changing his decision. Dilshan went on to score 125 not out. Indian batsmen Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid were initially given not out by on-field officials, who changed their decisions after consulting the TV umpire. “We need not think negatively about it. If it was not there, we probably would have had four bad decisions go against us in this match,” said the Sri Lankan skipper. “The decisions of both Tendulkar and Dravid were tough for the umpires, especially when you have (Muttiah) Muralitharan and (Ajantha) Mendis going at the batsmen on these kinds of tracks.” “It is very good. No team can complain that they lost because of bad decisions,” said Muralitharan. Defeated India captain Anil Kumble said it was too early to comment on the rule. “A couple of calls were negated, but I think it is something that we will have to take forward. It is a bit too early to comment,” he said. A top International Cricket Council (ICC) official recently said here he did not believe the rule would undermine the on-field umpires' authority as their word was still “final”. “It is an extension of the appeal. It doesn't undermine their roles. Their skill as umpires is still paramount. They have to make the decision (after consulting the TV umpire),” said ICC general manager Dave Richardson. Each team is allowed three unsuccessful review requests per innings but if one is successful they will get an additional appeal.
