Wednesday, August 13, 2008 -- Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lanka's new spinning sensation was named Man of the Series in his debut test series that was played against India in Sri Lanka. He was awarded the Man of the Series at the hands of former Sri Lankan Captain, Arjuna Ranatunga. Mendis said that all he wanted to do was to bowl alongside the legendary spinner Muttiah Muralidaran.

”I just wanted to bowl with Murali, and just to bowl well," he said.

Mendis, who claimed 26 wickets in the three-match series, helped his team win the series 2-1 against the visiting Indians.

Mendis said that he just focused on bowling with discipline against the Indian batsmen on being asked the secret of his success.

He said, "When you are bowling against good batsmen, you learn to bowl with discipline rather than attack too much. It also kept the pressure going which helped.”

"In the first two Test matches when I picked up wickets, I got a lot of confidence and then thought I might have the opportunity, but never went after it. It just came along,"

On being asked about his training regime Mendis said he specially practiced bowling from wicket to wicket and straight. He said "That is something I practiced quite a bit especially at training,"