Sri Lanka beat West Indies by 23 runs in the Cricket World Cup on Monday as Nicholas Pooran`s counter-attacking knock of 118 went in vain for the Caribbean side. A happy Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne said, " Good win for us, gives us a lot of confidence. Players stood up at vital times and that's what I'm expecting as a captain. I think we were putting pressure on ourselves (before today's game) and weren't expressing properly.
Today, we did that and the middle order batted well. Avishka was really good in his innings. We knew that they are a good six-hitting side and wanted to keep the pressure on, and increase the required rate slowly. Pooran was playing really well. (On making Mathews bowl) Thing is that we had to get those two overs done. He put his hand up and said that he'll bowl the overs. He did a fantastic job and that's what I am expecting as a captain. Don't think he'll bowl too many but if needed, certainly he may chip in with a couple of overs."
