If they lose to India on the morrow, however, it will be curtains for Mahela Jayawardene's men.

“It's like a semifinal for us now,” the Sri Lankan captain said on Monday morning. “It’s up to us to make it count and win the next two games. It’s a great challenge ahead of us. We made quite a few mistakes. We need to make sure that we get things right and play a very good game from here.”

The situation, however, didn’t daunt the right-handed batsmen.

“It's similar to the situation we faced a couple of years ago in India. The important thing is to not to panic and come out of it. The batsmen in particular need to spend time out in the middle. We need to go back to our basics and see where we are going wrong. Our bowling has been really good in this series, but the fielding has been up and down.”

Sri Lanka will most likely be without all-rounder Farveez Maharoof, out with injury, but the skipper said opener Dilruwan Perera, who played against Australia on Friday, would get another go. “We need to give him the opportunity. Why he’s here is that he's done well in the domestic tournament and with the 'A' team.

“We only gave him one game against England in October and one game here. If we don't play him, he's going to be just another passenger. Yes, he will get another opportunity," Jayawardene stressed.