Cricket is said to be a game of glorious uncertainties. What I have learnt after playing at the highest level for fourteen years is that it is also a game where agony is often mixed with ecstasy.

And so it was for me this week: Sri Lanka lost its first one day series to India at home and I picked up my 400th wicket in one-day internationals.

Personal milestones are important and they give you great satisfaction because they are, in a way, the reward for long years of hard work. But nothing can finally take away the pain of losing a series-and that too at home against an opposition we had convincingly defeated in a three test series, just a few weeks ago.

LW34 - Colombo, SRI LANKA : Sri Lankan cricketer Thilina Thushara Mirando plays a shot during the fifth and final One Day International. AFP

Despite the worries about my hamstring, I was declared fit to play last Sunday. The x-rays that I underwent showed that there was a problem with the vertebral discs in my back for which I would have to do regular exercises. But I had a workout and felt I could bowl a decent spell under match conditions.

Playing at the R. Premadasa Stadium (RPS) has its advantages and disadvantages and some have pointed to the fact that in all three games played there, the team winning the toss batted first-and won.

There is some truth in that: batting second under lights is more difficult, especially when spinners get more purchase off the wicket. The hardness that we usually associate with the RPS wicket seems to have diminished. As a result, if the team batting first manages to put 250 on the board, those batting second would have a hard task ahead. But, that should not be an excuse for our performance.

For instance, going into the third game with the series level at 1-1, the mood in the dressing room at the innings break was upbeat when we restricted India to 237, a modest score by any standards but more so considering that they were 212 for 5 with five overs to spare.

But soon, we found ourselves at 94 for 7 and the chase was almost over. Of course, Mahela and Thilan Thushara then set up a partnership and we eventually reached 204 but whatever the conditions, the RPS wicket is not that unplayable and we have only ourselves to blame for that batting performance.
In the fourth game, we were trailing the series 2-1 and we needed to win to keep the series alive. We had brought in Malinda Warnapura who replaced Chamara Silva who was going through a lean patch.
Malinda’s inclusion also meant that Kumar was relieved of opening the batting-this can be strenuous when batting second because he has to be back on the field immediately after keeping wickets for fifty overs!

Batting first, India had posted 258. That too was a creditable performance by the bowlers because we were looking at chasing a score in the region of 300 when the scoreboard read 224 for 3 in the 40th over.When we batted though, Sanath held one end up but we couldn’t build a partnership that could have set up a win: the highest partnership in the entire innings was 36 runs and it seemed as if batsmen were dismissed just when they got going.I was rested-along with Murali-for Friday’s final game, as the series had already been decided. But our performance on that day was quite creditable, especially bowling out India for just over a hundred runs. Unfortunately, it came too late to salvage the series for us.

What was encouraging about that win was our ability to recover from potentially difficult situations: we were 133 for 6 at one stage and could have folded up for less than 200; instead Jehan Mubarak and Thilan Thushara took the attack to the bowlers and posted a challenging 227 which was sufficient to test the Indians.

Indeed, Thushara is the ‘find’ of the series. In the four innings he batted, he scored 44, 30, and 40 and finally an unbeaten 54 on Friday-he was in fact, our most consistent batsman! He also took ten wickets in the five games, including a fifer- in the fourth game.

Thushara obviously has great potential and could develop into a genuine all-rounder if he applies himself. He is a committed athlete but he must be properly looked after as well because the amount of cricket being played keeps increasing by the day and he could fall victim to injury if he is not careful.
Personally, I was delighted to get my 400th scalp in the form of Yuvraj Singh in the fourth one-day international. It was a very emotional moment for me because I had toiled long and hard and made many sacrifices to get to where I am. When I first began playing international cricket, I never imagined I would scale such heights.

When we play for our country we never play with the intention of breaking one record or the other but when records come along, they are happy occasions because not only do they give us due recognition, they also provide you with an immense sense of satisfaction that all those years of toil and turmoil have finally paid off.

But I must also thank all those who helped me: my parents, my wife and children, my coach at St. Anthony’s' Wattala Noel Jansz, Carlton Bernadus from St. Josephs' and my bowling coaches Rumesh Ratnayake, Champaka Ramanayake, Anusha Samaranayake and T.A. Sekhar of the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai along with all my captains and fellow players with whom I had the honour of playing with. Without them, I wouldn't be here today.

Joining the ‘400 Club’ may be my moment of fame but it is not the moment which gave me the greatest satisfaction of my playing career-that remains-and will always remain-winning the World Cup in 1996.
With the Champions’ Trophy now postponed, there is a rare gap in our hectic international cricket calendar. But with all countries having ‘free time’ because September was allocated for the Champions’ Trophy, I am sure some series will materialise in due course!

But, in the meantime, this is also an opportunity for our boys to regroup, recover from their injuries, reflect on their recent performances and remedy some of the mistakes that we made. If we can do that, our ‘holiday’ will be time well spent.