Cape Town: Mahela Jayawardena's Sri Lankan team was beaten convincingly by world champions Australia in what could be termed as quarter-final encounter in the ICC World Twenty20 Championship at the Newlands cricket ground here on Thursday.

Reflecting on the defeat, Jayawardena said, "It's a new challenge for our team as we don't even play this format in our domestic cricket. Personally speaking, it's a challenge for me as well."

The elegant right-hander said the batting didn't click at all against Australia on Thursday but he was now focusing on the home ODI series against England. "It is a very important series for us, playing England at home, and we would now focus on winning it."

He let out a smile when asked to pick his winner of the T20 event here. "It's a very tough one," he said, "All the teams will have a chance. South Africa have the home advantage and they are playing some very good cricket. Australia have got the momentum going now and it will be interesting to see how they fare from here onwards.

It was Pakistan, however, that Jaywardena chose for some special praise. "Pakistan have been a surprise package here. They have played some excellent Twenty20 cricket, the way it should have been played, and have surprised a few teams. They will be hard to beat. I am most impressed by Pakistan," he said.

The winning captain on Thursday, Australia 's Adam Gilchrist, said his team was changing the overall mindset. "Obviously, luck helps a lot in this format but the mindset in our camp is changing. At the beginning, we felt the format closed the gap between us and the rest and it was unfair as we had dominated Test and 50-over cricket. But now we realise we don't own anything. We still have to go out and win matches.

Cape Town: Mahela Jayawardena's Sri Lankan team was beaten convincingly by world champions Australia in what could be termed as quarter-final encounter in the ICC World Twenty20 Championship at the Newlands cricket ground here on Thursday.

Reflecting on the defeat, Jayawardena said, "It's a new challenge for our team as we don't even play this format in our domestic cricket. Personally speaking, it's a challenge for me as well."

The elegant right-hander said the batting didn't click at all against Australia on Thursday but he was now focusing on the home ODI series against England. "It is a very important series for us, playing England at home, and we would now focus on winning it."

He let out a smile when asked to pick his winner of the T20 event here. "It's a very tough one," he said, "All the teams will have a chance. South Africa have the home advantage and they are playing some very good cricket. Australia have got the momentum going now and it will be interesting to see how they fare from here onwards.

It was Pakistan, however, that Jaywardena chose for some special praise. "Pakistan have been a surprise package here. They have played some excellent Twenty20 cricket, the way it should have been played, and have surprised a few teams. They will be hard to beat. I am most impressed by Pakistan," he said.

The winning captain on Thursday, Australia 's Adam Gilchrist, said his team was changing the overall mindset. "Obviously, luck helps a lot in this format but the mindset in our camp is changing. At the beginning, we felt the format closed the gap between us and the rest and it was unfair as we had dominated Test and 50-over cricket. But now we realise we don't own anything. We still have to go out and win matches.