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| Monday, 2 August 2004 |
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Lanka lift Asia Cup for third time By Sa'adi Thawfeeq Sri Lanka became Asia Cup champions for the third time when they beat India by 25 runs in the final played under lights at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday. Sri Lanka who won the toss and batted first defended their total of 228 for 9 off 50 overs with a magnificent display on the field restricting India to a total of 203 for nine wickets off 50 overs. On a slow pitch - the same used for Thursday's league match between Pakistan and Bangladesh, India found run making under lights a difficult task and eventually succumbed to defeat despite a brave innings of 74 off 100 balls (7 fours, 1 six) from master batsman Sachin Tendulkar. Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu emulated his predecessors Duleep Mendis (in 1986) and Arjuna Ranatunga (in 1997) under whose captaincy Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup. A strange coincidence is that all three captains are from SSC. India lived upto their image as chokers despite all the notions given by captain Sourav Ganguly before the final. Under his leadership, yesterday's defeat stretched their record to one outright win in 13th finals. They have been twice joint champions. Overall, India has only one solitary victory (NatWest trophy in 2002) to show in the last 19 finals that they have contested. After Chaminda Vaas trapped the dangerous Virender Sehwag lbw for five in the third over, Sri Lanka kept a stranglehold in the match by not allowing any big partnerships to develop. The best India could produce from their top order was 36 off 72 balls between Tendulkar and Laxman. It was not until the 42nd over that India were able to put together a partnership of some substance but by then the game was as good as over with the asking having crept up to massive proportions. Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan put on 46 off 39 balls for the ninth wicket but it was too late to bring India into contention. Zaheer twice smote sixes in one Muralitharan over to remain unbeaten on 28 made off 23 balls. Overall, Sri Lanka's fielding was outstanding with Jayawardene's catch at slip to get rid of Indian captain Ganguly for four being the crŠme de la creme. The final turned out to be a battle between the batsmen and spinners. With the pitch becoming increasingly slow batting became a tough task. Boundaries were few and far between and the match failed to live upto a one-day final although the pitch ideally suited Sri Lanka's style of play. Jayasuriya, Chandana and Dilshan bowled 24 overs between them to capture six wickets 79 runs and choke the Indian batting. Sri Lankan innings
Sri Lanka's batting was strangled by India's slow bowlers who kept them to a total of 228 for nine wickets in 50 overs. Sri Lanka who won a vital toss failed to forge any big partnerships following a third wicket stand of 116 of 150 balls between skipper Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara. The rest of the batting fell by the wayside largely due to lack of strategic planning against India's part-time bowlers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar who between them conceded just 72 runs in 20 overs. They also picked up the crucial wickets of Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Dilshan and was also involved in the run out of top scorer Atapattu for 65. Both bowlers extracted a lot of turn from the pitch, which could turn out to be to Sri Lanka's advantage when they bowl under lights. Where Sri Lanka perhaps erred was in not sending a left-hander to counter Tendulkar's gentle leg-breaks. Instead they stuck to the original batting order, which suited India and the former captain's plans. By the time Chaminda Vaas made his way to the wicket Sri Lanka were well into the 45th over. Poor understanding between batsmen also contributed to the run outs of Atapattu and Maharoof. Atapattu cut the ball to backward point and set off for a single and, failed to beat Sehwag's throw to the non-striker's end. His innings of 65 came off 87 balls and comprised eight fours and was enough to win him the man-of-the-match award ahead of Tendulkar. Left-hander Sangakkara made the only other notable contribution with the bat making 53 off 82 balls with six fours before being bowled attempting to pull Sehwag across the line. He was lucky to be dropped at six in the slips by Laxman off Zaheer Khan's first over and escape a run out at 38 when Dravid fumbled with the return from Balaji with Sangakkara half way down the wicket. Jayawardene was out for a duck top edging a sweep to backward square leg and Dilshan the last of the recognized batsmen went for an uncharacteristic drive against Tendulkar and was easily stumped by Dravid for 22. Once the century partnership between Atapattu and Sangakkara was broken Sri Lanka lost their way and the run rate fell down rapidly. If not for 32 extras, Sri Lanka's total would have been less than 200. Boundaries were few and far between because there was only one struck after the 40th over. Sri Lanka's hopes of a big total rested largely on the opening pair Avishka Gunawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya. But by the eighth over both batsmen were back in the pavilion. Following back-to-back hundreds in the previous two games there was high expectations from Jayasuriya. But the left-hander fell lbw to Pathan for 15 to a ball that kept low. Gunawardene mistimed a drive to mid-off to be caught for eight. Although Sri Lanka recovered through their third wicket pair, the innings lacked momentum as the Indian slow bowlers wrested the initiative. Sanath Jayasuriya won the man of the series award and drove away with the Maruti Esteem car and US$7000. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse was the chief guest at the final and presented Atapattu with the Indian Oil Asia Cup and cheque for US$60,000. India collected the runner-up cheque for Rs. 40,000. Both teams were introduced to Sports Minister Jeevan Kumaratunga before the start of the final. SRI LANKA A. Gunawardene c Ganguly b Nehra 8 S. Jayasuriya lbw b Pathan 15 M. Atapattu run out 65 K. Sangakkara b Sehwag 53 M. Jayawardene c Yuvraj Singh b Tendulkar 0 T. Dilshan st Dravid b Tendulkar 22 U. Chandana lbw b Harbhajan Singh 8 F. Maharoof run out 9 C. Vaas c Yuvraj Singh b Pathan 6 N. Zoysa not out 6 M. Muralitharan not out 4 Extras (b-4 lb-14 nb-3 w-11) 32 TOTAL (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 228 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-28 2-31 3-147 4-150 5-174 6-194 7-202 8-213 9-219 BOWLING: Pathan 7-0-33-2 (w-1), Nehra 6-0-22-1 (nb-1 w-3), Khan 7-0-35-0 (nb-2), Harbhajan Singh 10-0-48-1 (w-5), Sehwag 10-2-32-1 (w-2), Tendulkar 10-0-40-2 INDIA V Sehwag lbw b Vaas 5 SR Tendulkar b Dilshan 74 SC Ganguly c Jayawardene b Zoysa 4 VVS Laxman c Dilshan b Jayasuriya 12 R Dravid c Dilshan b Chandana 16 Yuvraj Singh b Chandana 8 M Kaif c Jayawardene b Chandana 5 IK Pathan run out (Vaas/Sangakkara) 2 Harbhajan Singh st Sangakkara b Jayasuriya 16 Z Khan not out 28 A Nehra not out 8 Extras (b 12, lb 8, w 3, nb 2) 25 TOTAL (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 203 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-15, 2-26 , 3-62, 4-96, 5-119, 6-135, 7-140, 8-147, 9-193 BOWLING:Vaas 7-1-24-1, Zoysa 8-2-18-1, Maharoof 2-0-16-0, Muralitharan 9-0-46-0, Jayasuriya 10-0-34-2, Chandana 10-0-33-3, Dilshan 4-0-12-1 |
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