Captain Sourav Ganguly blamed India's batsmen for their innings defeat in Colombo on Sunday.

"The first day collapse on a perfect batting cost us the game and the series," he said bluntly.

"Murali bowled pretty well in this game, but the Sri Lankan team also played better overall," he said.

"It's not anyone in particular, its all the top six batsmen," he said. "They had six hundreds in this series, whereas we didn't have a single. That shows that they have batted us out of the series"

Ganguly refused to make excuses because of injuries. "There is point in using the injuries as an excuse," he said. "There is a lot of cricket being played in India and it was the duty of those 14 who were picked to deliver and that didn't happen."

Ganguly admitted that the form of Harbhajan Singh had been a disappointment.

"He bowled well in the one-day games, but had a low Test series," he said. "He is a quality bowler and he is still young. He has a long way to go before he becomes a great Test bowler and needs to keep his head on his shoulders and just keep on playing."

Indian coach John Wright said: "It is hugely disappointing to lose on this strip, where we would have at least expected to draw. We did not play good cricket."

Agreeing with Ganguly about the poor batting, he also added: "There were some soft dismissals in the first innings, but to be fair it is a big challenge for young players to play Muralitharan. He is without peer at the moment and is a tremendous bowler. Even the experienced players struggle."

On the series in general, he said: "Sri Lanka don't have better cricketers than us, but their bowling was probably more balanced and they were able to put more pressure on us than we were able to put on them. They also sustained their intensity for longer periods of time."

"The boys have shown character on this tour, when they came back in the one-day series and the second Test, but we have got to understand and accept that we have to be rock-solid in certain fundamental departments, such fitness, running between wickets and fielding," he argued.

"We have got re-evaluate and work hard in those areas," he said "You simply cannot have three run outs when you are trying to save a Test match. We have also got to get fitter. That is a really big issue for us."

"On the plus side we have learnt a bit about some of the players and some players are developing," he said. "We have also identified the areas where we can improve."