What more can be asked from a match for an India fan ? Quite a lot actually, a Tendulkar century, a Sehwag blitzkrieg or a Pathan rocket. However what was on offer on Saturday was enough for a billion eyes that were glued to their television sets and browsers as India chased a very competitive score set by Sri Lanka. However, before I get to the match proper, the team selections had left both India and Sri Lanka fans bemused.
India made one change with the injured Nehra making way for Sreesanth. This was another rabbit that MSD pulled out of his hat after having replaced Ashwin with Nehra for the Pakistan match. Do MSD and Gary Kirsten know something about Ashwin that we don't ? If so, please enlighten us as to how you can keep a guy who has performed every time a ball has thrown to him is kept out of a team ? Contrast that with Sreesanth (and I will be the first to admit that I am a big fan of Sreesanth's bowling), who would have been low on confidence after having been benched after the Bangladesh match and is clearly the fourth choice seamer. The logic that Sri Lanka play spin well works only to a point, current form and team composition has to count for something.
If the Indian team selection showed up MSD's contrarian nature, the Sri Lanka team changes were simply baffling. Angelo Mathews being injured was a big blow, so his replacement was a given, however Sri Lanka made four changes with Chamara Silva, Rangana Herath, Angelo Mathews and Ajantha Mendis making way for Kulasekara, Perera, Ranadiv and Kapugedara. Of the changes, Kapugedara for Silva on form seemed reasonable and one of Kulasekara/Perera for Mathews was necessary (as a result of injury to Mathews). However, the dropping of both Herath and Mendis, both of whom had performed very well in the previous matches to bring in a seamer and spinner was inexplicable. The only possible reason is that Ranadiv had posed problems to the Indians on their last tour of Sri Lanka and it is thought that Mendis has been 'sorted out' by the sub-continent batsmen. This seemed very defensive logic.
Sangakkara won the toss and elected to bat and Dilshan and Tharanga started at a snail's pace. They were kept on a tight least by Zaheer Khan, who bowled an outstanding first spell and some inspired Indian fielding. Sreesanth after some initial nerves also seemed to be settling down and Tharanga succumbed to the pressure. This brought Sangakkara (arguably the best no.3 batsman in the world today) to the crease and he and Dilshan dropped anchor and built a good partnership. Sreesanth brought back for his second spell quickly dispelled any hopes of his bowling his overs out quietly and Dilshan helped himself to a couple of boundaries. A breakthrough was needed and provided by Harbhajan Singh when Dilshan had a deflection from his pad go on to hit his stumps.
The old pro Jayawardene now joined Sangakkara and both were looking inseparable when Sangakkara got an edge to Dhoni off Yuvraj ("Phoenix") Singh. The Sri Lanka lower middle order was suddenly brought into play with 20 more overs to go and it seemed as if India could restrict Sri Lanka to less than 250. Jayawardene had other ideas and was effortlessly stroking and ball and scoring at a strike rate of more than 100 even when wickets were falling around him. After Samaraweera and Kapugedara fell cheaply, he got excellent support from Kulasekara and Perera and Sri Lanka reached 274, a total that had looked very far off by the 30th over. India bowled badly at this stage and their fielding too wilted under the assault from Sri Lanka. Jayawardene reached a very richly deserved 100 and it looked as if Sangakkara's comment at the toss, "whatever total we will get will be good enough", was coming true. India would have gone into the break thinking that Sri Lanka had got at least 30 runs too many and would have wanted to get away to a good start with Sehwag and Tendulkar.
It was not to be and hardly had the India innings got underway when Malinga produced a searing delivery which thudded into Sehwag's pads. Up went the finger and though India asked for a UDRS review, the verdict was upheld. If this was a body blow, there was a knock out punch to come shortly in the form of Tendulkar's wicket. Tendulkar had started very confidently and it seemed as if he had forgotten his tentativeness in Mohali and was batting as only he can. A drive through the covers was as good as any he has played and the crowd at the Wankhede roared its appreciation. It was too good to last and Malinga, who can produce a wicket taking ball almost every time he comes in to bowl, got Tendulkar to edge and Sangakkara happily accepted the catch. A stunned silence from the crowd among wild celebrations from the Sri Lankan team was enough indication of the importance of this wicket to both sides. Out strode Kohli and joined Gambhir who had been dabbing the ball around till then. Both Kohli and Gambhir did what Dilshan and Sangakkara had done earlier in the day, cut out fancy shots and stuck to rotating the strike. Strangely, Sangakkara seemed content with Tendulkar's wicket and there did not seem any great effort in trying to prise out another wicket.
Eighty priceless runs were added by this pair and it came in good time (about 15 overs at a rate of 5 per over). This kept the asking rate within limits and brought India perceptibly closer to the target. Kohli got out to a great Dilshan return catch and MSD sprang another surprise by promoting himself ahead of Yuvraj. Gambhir now prospered in Dhoni's company and both batted brilliantly. They saw off Murali and scored off everyone else and broke the back of Sri Lanka with their partnership. By the time they were separated, when Gambhir waltzed down the pitch to Perera when within touching distance of his century, India had only 50 odd runs to get in even time. Yuvraj settled down very quickly and Dhoni started asserting himself with some crisp pulls. In the end Sangakkara threw in the towel and Dhoni provided the perfect end by clubbing Kulasekara over mid-wicket for a massive six. Team India had achieved what every Indian cricket fan had been demanding ever since the start of the tournament, a victory in the World Cup final!
India's brilliance in batting cannot mask the strange tactical choices made by Dhoni or the frailities in the Indian bowling and fielding. However sheer desire to succeed and of course great skill, helped Dhoni guide India to a memorable victory. Ultimately India were good enough on the field in all the knock out games that they played whereas the other teams succumbed to pressure. It was thought that playing at home would add to the pressure on the Indian players and no doubt it played a huge role, but one would like to think that even the support that the team enjoys from the crowds at home would have helped to some extent in giving it an extra edge.
Some scenes from after the match linger in memory, Tendulkar being carried around in turns by all the players, Kohli acknowledging in an interview that every Indian cricket fan knows ("Tendulkar has carried the weight of the Indian team for the last 21 years, it is time that we carried him now"). It had all the marks of a clichéd sound byte, however it touched a nerve in every fan watching and Kohli has only risen in the eyes of however witnessed it.
With this monkey of his back, one expects Dhoni to create a very strong cricket legacy and become an even better captain and as for Tendulkar, only he knows what more he can achieve ...
India made one change with the injured Nehra making way for Sreesanth. This was another rabbit that MSD pulled out of his hat after having replaced Ashwin with Nehra for the Pakistan match. Do MSD and Gary Kirsten know something about Ashwin that we don't ? If so, please enlighten us as to how you can keep a guy who has performed every time a ball has thrown to him is kept out of a team ? Contrast that with Sreesanth (and I will be the first to admit that I am a big fan of Sreesanth's bowling), who would have been low on confidence after having been benched after the Bangladesh match and is clearly the fourth choice seamer. The logic that Sri Lanka play spin well works only to a point, current form and team composition has to count for something.
If the Indian team selection showed up MSD's contrarian nature, the Sri Lanka team changes were simply baffling. Angelo Mathews being injured was a big blow, so his replacement was a given, however Sri Lanka made four changes with Chamara Silva, Rangana Herath, Angelo Mathews and Ajantha Mendis making way for Kulasekara, Perera, Ranadiv and Kapugedara. Of the changes, Kapugedara for Silva on form seemed reasonable and one of Kulasekara/Perera for Mathews was necessary (as a result of injury to Mathews). However, the dropping of both Herath and Mendis, both of whom had performed very well in the previous matches to bring in a seamer and spinner was inexplicable. The only possible reason is that Ranadiv had posed problems to the Indians on their last tour of Sri Lanka and it is thought that Mendis has been 'sorted out' by the sub-continent batsmen. This seemed very defensive logic.
Sangakkara won the toss and elected to bat and Dilshan and Tharanga started at a snail's pace. They were kept on a tight least by Zaheer Khan, who bowled an outstanding first spell and some inspired Indian fielding. Sreesanth after some initial nerves also seemed to be settling down and Tharanga succumbed to the pressure. This brought Sangakkara (arguably the best no.3 batsman in the world today) to the crease and he and Dilshan dropped anchor and built a good partnership. Sreesanth brought back for his second spell quickly dispelled any hopes of his bowling his overs out quietly and Dilshan helped himself to a couple of boundaries. A breakthrough was needed and provided by Harbhajan Singh when Dilshan had a deflection from his pad go on to hit his stumps.
The old pro Jayawardene now joined Sangakkara and both were looking inseparable when Sangakkara got an edge to Dhoni off Yuvraj ("Phoenix") Singh. The Sri Lanka lower middle order was suddenly brought into play with 20 more overs to go and it seemed as if India could restrict Sri Lanka to less than 250. Jayawardene had other ideas and was effortlessly stroking and ball and scoring at a strike rate of more than 100 even when wickets were falling around him. After Samaraweera and Kapugedara fell cheaply, he got excellent support from Kulasekara and Perera and Sri Lanka reached 274, a total that had looked very far off by the 30th over. India bowled badly at this stage and their fielding too wilted under the assault from Sri Lanka. Jayawardene reached a very richly deserved 100 and it looked as if Sangakkara's comment at the toss, "whatever total we will get will be good enough", was coming true. India would have gone into the break thinking that Sri Lanka had got at least 30 runs too many and would have wanted to get away to a good start with Sehwag and Tendulkar.
It was not to be and hardly had the India innings got underway when Malinga produced a searing delivery which thudded into Sehwag's pads. Up went the finger and though India asked for a UDRS review, the verdict was upheld. If this was a body blow, there was a knock out punch to come shortly in the form of Tendulkar's wicket. Tendulkar had started very confidently and it seemed as if he had forgotten his tentativeness in Mohali and was batting as only he can. A drive through the covers was as good as any he has played and the crowd at the Wankhede roared its appreciation. It was too good to last and Malinga, who can produce a wicket taking ball almost every time he comes in to bowl, got Tendulkar to edge and Sangakkara happily accepted the catch. A stunned silence from the crowd among wild celebrations from the Sri Lankan team was enough indication of the importance of this wicket to both sides. Out strode Kohli and joined Gambhir who had been dabbing the ball around till then. Both Kohli and Gambhir did what Dilshan and Sangakkara had done earlier in the day, cut out fancy shots and stuck to rotating the strike. Strangely, Sangakkara seemed content with Tendulkar's wicket and there did not seem any great effort in trying to prise out another wicket.
Eighty priceless runs were added by this pair and it came in good time (about 15 overs at a rate of 5 per over). This kept the asking rate within limits and brought India perceptibly closer to the target. Kohli got out to a great Dilshan return catch and MSD sprang another surprise by promoting himself ahead of Yuvraj. Gambhir now prospered in Dhoni's company and both batted brilliantly. They saw off Murali and scored off everyone else and broke the back of Sri Lanka with their partnership. By the time they were separated, when Gambhir waltzed down the pitch to Perera when within touching distance of his century, India had only 50 odd runs to get in even time. Yuvraj settled down very quickly and Dhoni started asserting himself with some crisp pulls. In the end Sangakkara threw in the towel and Dhoni provided the perfect end by clubbing Kulasekara over mid-wicket for a massive six. Team India had achieved what every Indian cricket fan had been demanding ever since the start of the tournament, a victory in the World Cup final!
India's brilliance in batting cannot mask the strange tactical choices made by Dhoni or the frailities in the Indian bowling and fielding. However sheer desire to succeed and of course great skill, helped Dhoni guide India to a memorable victory. Ultimately India were good enough on the field in all the knock out games that they played whereas the other teams succumbed to pressure. It was thought that playing at home would add to the pressure on the Indian players and no doubt it played a huge role, but one would like to think that even the support that the team enjoys from the crowds at home would have helped to some extent in giving it an extra edge.
Some scenes from after the match linger in memory, Tendulkar being carried around in turns by all the players, Kohli acknowledging in an interview that every Indian cricket fan knows ("Tendulkar has carried the weight of the Indian team for the last 21 years, it is time that we carried him now"). It had all the marks of a clichéd sound byte, however it touched a nerve in every fan watching and Kohli has only risen in the eyes of however witnessed it.
With this monkey of his back, one expects Dhoni to create a very strong cricket legacy and become an even better captain and as for Tendulkar, only he knows what more he can achieve ...
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