'We are not thinking too much' - Dilshan

If Tillakaratne Dilshan were as consistent with the bat as he is in press conferences, he would likely score a century every other innings and have a Bradmanesque Test average. From the first time he addressed the media, in Benoni before the tour match, to the most recent before the third Test, nothing has changed.

He walks in with the same casual swagger, he sits down with the same look of indifference, he surveys the room with the same half-curiosity, he nods his head with the same rhythm and most of the words he says are repeated .

Most questions start with the same answer: Definitely. At the beginning: Do Sri Lanka believe they will be able to adequately challenge South Africa in the series? Definitely. Will Sri Lanka be able to regroup from a year of disappointment and underachievement in the Test arena? Definitely. In the middle: Have Sri Lanka learned anything from their disappointment in Centurion? Definitely. Is the Durban win one of the most significant for Sri Lanka? Definitely. And now, at the end: Does Dilshan himself want to put in a performance of importance as the series enters its sunset stage? Definitely.

"We need a good start in every Test match and I want to finish strongly," Dilshan said. "I am just going to play my own game. I have had success over the last six or seven years and I'd like to finish well."

After a showing in the first Test that suggested he was not worthy of the leadership, Dilshan came back better in the second. He scored 47 in the first innings before he slogged a full toss to fine leg, a stroke he admitted was poor, and then edged behind to be caught for four in the second dig, when Sri Lanka were setting out to build a substantial lead.

Every time a question is asked of Dilshan's batting and whether his somewhat careless, reckless, attitude could be costing the team, the answer is the same. "That's how he plays his cricket," says everyone from Geoff Marsh to Kumar Sangakkara, and no one appears to be bothered by it. They can't be, because when it pays off, it does so handsomely, as his 193 at Lord's in July last year proved. When it doesn't, a string of scores such as the ones he cobbled up during the first two Tests of the Pakistan series will appear: 19, 9, 7 and 3.

One thing we know about Dilshan is that usually those lean patches do not last long. Since moving up to the opening slot, the longest Dilshan has ever gone without a Test half-century is five innings. All the statistics indicate that the captain is due a big knock. He seems to want it badly himself, along with the chance to make history, again.

A first series win beckons for Dilshan, who only won his first Test as captain four days ago. Sri Lanka stand on the brink of beating South Africa at home, something that no other sub-continental team has done. The possibilities could easily be overwhelming but with Dilshan at the helm, there is little chance of him allowing it to become that way. One thing he has shown, with his hit-and-miss style of batting, is that nothing needs to be over-analysed, not even something as important as what lies before Sri Lanka now.

"We are not thinking too much," Dilshan said. "We just want to try and finish well. Before we came here, people said we were underdogs and we couldn't win here but we proved what we can do. If we can win the series, it will be a great achievement as a team."

Great is a massive understatement, but Dilshan only talks in those. Winning the series would require Sri Lanka to invade a fortress where South Africa have only ever lost to Australia since readmission.

Injury concerns, which have become the norm for Sri Lanka of late, stand in their way again. Dinesh Chandimal was struck on the elbow during training, and the seamer Dilhara Fernando is suffering from knee pain. If he is unable to play, Dhammika Prasad will step in. As expected, Dilshan did not seem too perturbed by the combinations he will have to work with. He simply shrugged at the prospect of not having a first-choice player, and said, "It will be another opportunity for another guy."