ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup

Dropped catches haunt Lanka - lose to India

SA'ADI Thawfeeq

DROPPED catches which Sri Lanka thought was a thing of the past came to haunt them in their ICC under 19 World Cup Group 'C' match against India which they lost by four wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

Sri Lanka were made to pay dearly for the lapses as India reduced to 28-3 in the sixth over recovered through their fourth wicket pair who put on 132 runs off 188 balls to turn the match in their favour.

If Sri Lanka was to defend their moderate total of 207 successfully they needed to hold onto their catches. But they allowed India the luxury of four including three off man-of-the-match Rohit Sharma who made full use of them to score 79 off 105 balls (6 fours, 2 sixes) and guide them to victory.

Together with Mayank Tehlan who made 64 off 114 balls (3 fours); Sharma rescued India from their early losses with a century partnership. Tehlan was also let off at eight by the butter-fingered Sri Lankan fielders.

The closeness of the game where India won in the 48th over with four wickets to spare indicated that had Sri Lanka held onto their catches the result could have been different.

By virtue of losing to India, Sri Lanka who finished runner up in their group will come against Group 'B' leaders Australia in their Super League quarter-final game today at the SSC grounds. India plays West Indies in another quarter-final at the R. Premadasa Stadium today.

Winning the toss Sri Lanka began well despite losing Zoysa for a duck in the first over to reach 71-1 in the first 15 overs. But the run out of Serasinghe when he was going well for 38 followed by two quick wickets with the total on 117 saw the Sri Lankan innings lose momentum.

Although skipper Angelo Mathews hit out boldly to make a top score of 52 off 69 balls (4 fours, 2 sixes), the Lankan innings failed to last the distance and they were bowled out in the 49th over.

Sri Lanka once again began well when India started their innings when fast bowler Tissara Perera captured the first three wickets to have them struggling at 28-3. But a spate of dropped catches allowed India to crawl back into the game and eventually win.

Coaches' reactions

Sri Lanka coach Sumithra Warnakulasuriya said that his team may have suffered a psychological disadvantage in this game as India had beaten them twice in the Afro-Asian tournament in India in November.

"But I still thought we played well today. We should have got about 230-240. Even with this total of 207 we could have still won when we got the first three wickets for 28 runs, but we dropped a few catches," said Warnakulasuriya.

"Upto this game they fielded well but today suddenly it went back to what it was. It is difficult to drop this sort of catches and win a game. That probably was the turning point," he said.

Warnakulasuriya further went onto state: "What I've noticed with this team is when they get wickets they are in the game, but when a catch or two goes down they all tend to give up. This is exactly what happened in the finals in India when we dropped the opening batsman twice.

Today also that is exactly what happened. Psychologically they just give up the game. We had to send several messages but nothing seemed to work today."

Sri Lanka missed the batting of Dilan Cooray who was man of the match in their last game against Namibia with an unbeaten half century.

"Cooray had a slight groin strain and we rested him on the physio's advice so that he will be fit for the quarter-final match tomorrow. It was a big loss because Cooray is a good player in the middle order. He works the ball around whereas most of the other players tend to look for boundaries," said Warnakulasuriya.

Sri Lanka also has an injury problem over their captain Mathews who had to pull out while bowling his third over due to a thigh strain. However manager Ashley de Silva said that Mathews will be fit to play today although he will not bowl.

Warnakulasuriya said that although his team had qualified to play in the quarter-finals they really wanted to beat India yesterday.

"I am disappointed with the result because this is a game we should have won. As long as we are playing in the quarters we are still alive.

It doesn't matter who we are playing. It's a matter of regrouping and doing well tomorrow. We've got to get it right, otherwise we will be out of the competition" said Warnakulasuriya.

Indian coach Venkatesh Prasad said yesterday's game was a fantastic test for his players in terms of character and the playing standards they had set for themselves.

"We had lost three wickets very early and we had to chase 207. The pressure was on us but Rohith and Mayank played a blinder of an innings to put on 132 runs which was great," said Prasad.

"It was the test we needed to know where we stood because the first two games we played were pretty one-sided against Scotland and Namibia. I am pretty happy the way we bowled to restrict Sri Lanka on this sort of wicket which was flat and the ball was coming onto the bat. 207 was a fantastic effort, our fielding and catching was really good," he said.

SRI LANKA 
D. Karunaratne b Sharma  		41
R.S.S. de Zoysa c Shah b Yomahesh	 0
S.C. Serasinghe run out			38
H. Fernando c Shah b Bandekar		31
A.D. Mathews c Jadeja b Yomahesh	52
K.P.S.P. Karunanayake c Shukla b Chawla  7
A. Priyanjan run out 			 0
P. Perera lbw b Jadeja			20
N.L.T.C. Perera b Chawla		 5
S.S. Pathirana c Shah b Yomahesh 	 1
P.M. Pushpakumara not out  		 3
Extras (nb-1, w-8)			 9
TOTAL (all out, 48.3 overs, 209 mins)  	207
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-3, 2-72, 3-117, 4-117, 
5-130, 6-134,  7-176, 8-189, 9-194, 10-207. 
BOWLING: Yomahesh 8.3-1-33-3 (4w), 
Ahmed 10-0-47-0 (2w),  Bandekar 9-1-51-1 (1w, 1nb), 
Chawla 10-2-35-2 (1w), Jadeja 9-0-38-1, Sharma  2-0-3-1. 

INDIA 
G. Dhiman c Priyanjan b T. Perera	10 
C. Pujara c Zoysa b T. Perera		10 
R. Sharma c Zoysa b Pathirana		79
R. Shukla c Fernando b T. Perera	 1 
M. Tehlan c Serasinghe b Weerasinghe	64 
P. Chawla c Pathirana b Weerasinghe	10 
D. Das not out 				15 
R.S. Jadeja not out 			 4 
Extras (lb-w, nb-2, w-140 		17 
TOTAL (6 wkts, 47.4 overs, 191 mins)	209
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-14, 2-25, 3-28, 4-160, 
5-176,  6-203. 
DID NOT BAT: P. Shah, V. Yomahesh, 
S.  Bandekar. 
BOWLING: Mathews 2.2-0-10-0, T. Perera 8-0-35-3 (3w,  1nb), 
Serasinghe 6.2-0-25-0 (6w), Karunanayake 3-0-24-0 (3w), 
Pushpakumara  10-0-37-0 (1w), Weerasinghe 10-1-32-2 (1w, 1nb), 
Pathirana  8-0-45-0. 
Man of the Match: R. Sharma (India)