Sri Lanka win Asia Cup

While India wanted to shrug off the title of chokers, a general perception regarding the team's performances in the finals of a major tournament, their opponents Sri Lanka wanted to continue their dominance at home, especially after an almost invincible run in the tournament, losing out on only one game, which could've gone either way. What indeed happened was that the hosts managed to polish off an accomplished Indian batting order for a meager score, after initially not putting up a convincing score by batting first, as a result winning the Asia Cup by 25 runs, and putting Indian fans in a doubt as to whether their team can realistically win in a final or not.

Winning the toss, and without hesitation deciding to bat first, Marvan Atapattu got the first advantage in the match, thus reducing India's chances of winning the Asia Cup after a space of more than a decade considerably. However, India's newest pace sensation, Irfan Pathan had other ideas. His partner in crime, Ashish Nehra, who found himself in the final eleven, as a result of the management over-looking the fact that spin could work on the pitch they were going to play on, looked almost as good as he did during his better days last year in the World Cup. A wicket each of the two left-handed pace-man; there was a third in the side as well in the form of Zaheer Khan, reduced Sri Lanka to 31 for 2, with both the in-form openers back in the pavilion.

Atapattu's decision didn't look smart enough at that position, but who'd have been better for a rescue act than the captain himself. On the back of a mediocre performance thus far in the tournament, it needed only a spark, a situation where his team could've faltered easily, to bring out the best in Atapattu. He was ably supported by wicket-keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara, as both of them together put up a 116-run partnership, which eventually turned out to be the deciding factor. Both of them however survived some close scares, but slowly and more importantly surely, they resurrected the innings, after a seemingly disappointing start.

By the time the Indian spinners came on to ball, it was evident that the pitch was too slow and thus a lot more favorable for the slow bowlers than the fast ones. This observation led Sourav Ganguly to use the full quota of 10 overs from both Virendar Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, squeezing a grand total of 20 overs from what should've has effectively been the fifth bowler pair on a different track. It was Sehwag's delicious looking off-spinner, but in reality a deceiving one, which brought about the un-doing of Sangakkara, as the delivery snuck past his bat, to kiss the off-stump, with the score at 147 for 3.

At this stage, it was clear that the track demanded a score of 250 or thereabouts, and nothing more extravagant, especially with the quality of bowling the non-regular spinners had to offer for India. A constant loss of wickets, confirmed that the score couldn't get past 230, as the hosts finished with 228 for 9 off their 50 overs. Pathan and Tendulkar picked up two wickets each, while the pick of the bowlers Sehwag finished with 33 for 1 off his 10 overs.

India's chase didn't get off the best of starts, as Sehwag looked his unfortunate usual self, as he has looked in the tournament till that point, bar the innings during the last match, which set up a victory, and thus a spot in the finals. Ganguly followed soon, though it looked like an eternity, as the scoring remained stagnant, with hardly 10 runs coming off 6-7 overs after Sehwag's fall. Mahela Jayawardena pulled off an amazing catch to send Ganguly packing, and thus putting more pressure on Tendulkar.

Tendulkar was his new-found self, as he battled for survival rather than attack. His partner after Ganguly's dismissal, Laxman, returning to the side after being out for two matches as a result of a leg injury, looked dodgy from the first ball. Laxman, who usually likes scoring in boundaries, found the fielders on each and every opportunity that came his way, thus rendering his strike rate appalling. He batted 34 balls for 12, before he provided the simplest of chances to gift his wicket off the bowling of the just introduced Sanath Jayasuriya, the score being at 62 for 3.

Rahul Dravid, struggling in the tournament apart from the series opener century, needed to click, so as to give India any serious chances of a comeback. Though Tendulkar looked steady, it needed some quick scoring from the other end to prevent the required rate from going past six. Dravid's style suits to such situations, as he's the one who can easily rotate the strike when needed to do so. He did exactly that, before unfortunately for India, giving a sharp chance at slip off Chandana, which was grabbed, thus reducing India to 96 for 4.

Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif, heroes of India's famous NatWest series win, couldn't repeat the feat, as they didn't cause an impact necessary to win big finals. Yuvraj showed that he still needs to improve a lot, especially against spin, as his sweeps looked more awful than Muralitharan's slogs. Kaif, who's looked average in the tournament, virtually doing nothing apart from good fielding, followed up another disappointing innings. Both their wickets meant, India were 135 for 6, and definitely miles away from a miracle victory.

The only glimmer of hope that existed due to Tendulkar's presence was finally taken away, as the master batsman's painful innings was brought to an end off a genuine off-spinner by Tillakratne Dilshan, who earlier had him plumb twice for LBW, to be denied by Billy Bowden. After Tendulkar's fall, the match was headed to only one ending, and that was a shameful defeat for India. However, some good old tail ender slogging from Zaheer Khan took the Indian score past 200, so as to portray the loss as not a humiliating one. However, the fact remains that India can't win in a major final, and the management needs to do some real soul-searching as to where they go wrong, as they now have 10 out of 13 times under Ganguly.

Sri Lanka 228 for 9 in 50 overs
MS Atapattu 65(87), KC Sangakkara 53(82), IK Pathan 33/2(7), SR Tendulkar 40/2(10)
India 203 for 9 in 50 overs
SR Tendulkar 74(100), ST Jayasuriya 34/2(10), UDU Chandana 33/3(10)

Man of the Match
MS Atapattu
Man of the Series
ST Jayasuriya

Sri Lanka beat India by 25 runs to win the Asia Cup.

Posted by Sudeep