Great victory for Lanka

What a great victory it was for Sri Lanka at the Asia Cup final at the National Stadium, Karachi last Sunday!

Having lost to the same opponent - India, by six wickets at the same venue three days earlier and to thrash the very same team by 100 runs is definitely great.

Sri Lanka went in for the flood-lit final as underdogs, having been comprehensively beaten by India in their last Super Four final round match at the same venue, just 72 hours before the final. That too was after Sri Lanka set the Indians a huge target of 309 in 50 overs.

Hence, there were plenty of reasons for cricket fans to place their bets on the Indians. This seemed right when Sri Lanka, put into bat on a good batting track, slumped to 66 for 4 wickets after facing only the first 12 overs.

With four of their frontline batsmen back in the pavilion cheaply - Kumar Sangakkara (4), skipper Mahela Jayawardene (11), Chamara Kapugedara (5) and Chamara Silva for a duck, Sri Lanka never looked like posing a serious threat to the Indians.

On the other hand, the mentality of the Lankan camp was that they must put a total in excess of 300 runs on the board, if they were to give a fight to India.

Even 300 did not look safe as the Indians, reached that massive target of 309 at the same venue three days before the final with 19 balls to spare. Hence the asking was too much from Sri Lanka with four wickets down for 66 runs and 38 over more to bat.

But veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya once again produced a gem of an innings to put the Lankans back in the game. Together with Tillakaratne Dilshan, who played a good supportive role (54 runs), Jayasuriya added 131 valuable runs for the fifth wicket in 23.4 overs. That gave stability to the Lankan innings.

Jayasuriya was simply unstoppable during that champion innings - 125 runs off 114 balls with five sixes and nine fours. He showed no mercy to the Indian bowlers who were ruthlessly hit to all corners of the ground.

The Jayasuriya fireworks illuminated the Karachi’s National Stadium as his willow started talking once again and utterly changed the complexion of the game.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni brought Rudra Prathap Singh to bowl the 16th over of the Lankan innings as the medium paceman had conceded only 24 runs in his first five overs. But that over became a nightmare for the 23-year-old Rajasthan bowler as Jayasuriya plundered 26 runs off that over. The Matara Mauler hit sixers off the first two balls on either side of the sightscreen.

This was followed by two power-packed cover drives and a final ball six over midwicket. The only consolation Singh had in that over was the fifth which was a dot ball. Thanks to the ‘Jayasuriya fire’ the Lankans were able to put 273 runs on the board, losing the last wicket in the penultimate ball of their innings.

With two explosive centuries and a fifty, it seems that Jayasuriya has just begun his cricketing career after his ‘rebirth’. The international television commentators ran short of adjectives in describing the hurricane feats of the Lankan master blaster.

“He is batting like a teenager, running between the wickets even better,” they said. The TV commentators credited Jayasuriya’s energising play due to “coconut water the Lankans drink back home”.

Even then the things did not look safe and that mental agony of an unsuccessful target of 309 set by them three days prior to that. It looked as if Jayasuriya’s blistering knock would go down the drain when the Indians were sailing smoothly with 72 for one in nine overs.

This is when the Lankan mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis emerged after Lankan captain Jayawardene was forced to rely on slow bowlers in only the tenth over of the Indian innings. The 23-year-old soldier from Moratuwa ran through the backbone of the powerful Indian batting line-up.

The wickets started tumbling as Mendis captured four prized wickets - that of danger man Virendra Sehwag, Youvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma within the space of just 19 balls.

That was the deadliest blow to the Indian camp and they never recovered from that terrible shock. From 72 for one in 9.1 overs, the Indians slumped to 97 for 5 in 15.2 overs after the ‘Mendis Special’ treat.

The performance of Mendis was simply unimaginable. It took the Indians by surprise and their batsmen were all at sea against the venomous deliveries of Mendis, soldier in the Sri Lanka Army.

With Sri Lanka Army just a achieving resounding success in the Northern battlefield, Mendis excellent bowling enabled Sri Lanka to achieve a memorable victory in the cricketing battlefield. At the end, Mendis’ six-wicket sent India to a crushing defeat as Dhoni’s men were bowled out for 173.

Man of the Series Mendis was instantly rewarded for his great effort which enabled Sri Lanka to win its first Asia Cup on foreign soil.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the head of the Armed Forces, promoted Mendis to the rank of Second Lieutenant.

The sports-loving President perhaps got rid of his fatigue after a busy day’s work by watching the final stages of the live telecast from Karachi, immediately after the match, he called the Lankan team to congratulate them on their historic achievement.

It was a great performance by the Lankan team. It would be interesting to see whether they would be able to maintain that when Indians tour here later this month. Definitely the Indians would make every endeavour to take revenge for their humiliating loss.