Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene says that his side's poor batting was the reason for their 3-2 defeat in the one-day series against India.

Jayawardene felt that there was a lack of consistency among the batsmen, which was reflected in a number of changes to the order as the contest progressed.

"I'm disappointed by the way we played," he said. "We had our opportunities but our day cricket has not been consistent. Especially with the bat, we have not been consistent.

"If you are not capable of getting the runs, it is quite difficult to win matches."

However the skipper was buoyed by the manner in which the bowlers stood up in the absence of several seamers, as Nuwan Kulasekara and Thilan Thushara claimed 11 and 10 wickets in the series respectively.

"I think Kulasekara and Thilan Thushara have been consistent for us," Jayawardene continued. "Lasith [Malinga] has started bowling and [Ferveez] Maharoof is 100% fit while Dilhara [Fernando] looks very good after the injury. So there is competition in the team which is good."

But while Jayawardene was disappointed to lose a series on home soil, he did feel that his side could not be accused of giving up and even allowed himself a sly dig at Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side.

"I don't think we could be criticised for lacking fighting spirit," Jayawardene said. "Even when we were losing we were fighting. I think the Indians tend to probably give up a bit too easily.

"We want to develop in our team the habit of not giving up till the last minute. You can go through tough situations and give in quite easily. We have to keep having belief in our ability."