Mahela Jayawardene: We rise to the occasion during big events

Mahela Jayawardene celebrating after winning the World T20 earlier this year

Kolkata, Nov 12 (IANS) His side may have come a cropper in the ongoing One-Day International (ODI) series against India, but veteran Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene on Wednesday exuded confidence of handling pressure and doing well in big events, including the 2015 World Cup.

He also said they would get their act together in the final two matches of the series.

"We have the knack of rising to the occasion during big tournaments and can handle the pressure. As long as the focus is on the big matches, we will get very far," Jayawardene said at the media meet on the eve of the fourth ODI at the Eden Gardens here.

The 37-year-old classy batsman, who has scored 12,002 runs in ODIs and 11,814 in Test matches, did not agree that the hastily-arranged tour to India has affected his team's preparations for the February-March World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The Indian cricket board asked the Islanders to fill in after the West Indies aborted their tour to India over an internal payment dispute.

"It has been a bad patch. Though it was a sudden series for us, it was a good opportunity to start playing competitive cricket. It gave us an opportunity to try a few things like a few young players and some new combinations," he said.

"Every team in the build-up to the World Cup tries different combinations, to get the right people in the squad. This tour gave us some extra games to do that."

Jayawardene - a veteran of 745 games spanning Test matches, ODIs and T20 Internationals - expressed disappointment with his team's showing in India.

"I am disappointed at the way we played though certain departments clicked in different games. Hopefully, we will get the things right and get our act together tomorrow".

He said the side missed six-seven players due to injury and various other reasons, while the openers failed to get going.

"Once we are back we will analyse and see where we went wrong. Performance in none of the departments was up to the mark. We will sit down and rethink our strategies. And once we get all our players back, we will surely play good cricket," the batsman said.

Jayawardene said apart from the poor showing in the ongoing tour, Sri Lanka had a spectacular 2014. "We won the T20 World Cup. We won against England and New Zealand. We also beat Pakistan."

The right-hander said Sri Lanka - who won the World Cup in 1996 - need to work hard and stay focused and execute their plans properly all departments in the big event.

On Thursday's match, he said both the teams have things to prove. "India have some new faces. They will want to show what they are worth. Our boys want to play for our pride and take some good things back".

He also said experienced campaigners Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan - who were not in their elements - should not be judged on the basis of their performance in only three matches.

"You cannot analyse two brilliant players of such calibre on the basis of their showing in a few matches. You need to analyse what they did the entire year. Our success rate through the year is 80 percent. Most of the success we have had is due to the performance of these two players and some others."