Cricket Fever

"I have played in three World Cup tournaments and this is definitely my worst," Dravid said.

Needing victory to move into the Super Eight stages of the tournament - barring an improbabl Bermuda win over Bangladesh - India failed by 69 runs to chase down Sri Lanka's total of 254.

"Batting is our strength and there was nothing in the wicket to stop us from getting 255. It was gettable but we failed to put together a substantial partnership and kept losing wickets regularly," Dravid said.

"We had our fate in our own hands and could not live up to expectations."

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene paid tribute to the younger members of his team, highlighting the contributions of Upul Tharanga, Chamara Silva and Lasith Malinga.

"It was a brilliant effort out there today and we are hoping that we can keep the momentum going," Jayawardene said.

"We are very happy with our back-to-back wins which means that we are playing really good cricket. Our batting was sensible while the bowlers were spot on.

"It is so good to see the younger players putting it together. We told them before that this was a big event and they have shown they are ready."

Jayawardene paid particular tribute to Silva, who scored half-centuries in all three games, and Chaminda Vaas.

"Chamara batted well today. The way he rotates the strike and plays spin is always heartening and he knows how to accelerate at the end," he added.

"Vaas created a lot of pressure and we knew that once we got some early wickets, they would become rattled."