When Yuvraj wreaked revenge

Sharm de Alwis

At last our cricketers wore their collective lucky underpants when they played in the 5th ODI last week. Kumar Sangakkara will, of course, perform as he has since he was considered in 2001 the Most Promising Young International Cricketer of the Year.

Cameo knock

There was a period in which he would be content with a cameo knock but now he has to shoulder the burden imposed on him by incompetent fellow batsmen who find that the boots left behind by Mahanama, Aravinda and Tilekeratna sizes too large to fill as they plunge and struggle even against lesser bowlers.

Sri Lanka faced the high-riding Indians in our own backyard after some tentative displays against minnows Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, making heavy weather of scoring at pedestrian gait. They immortalised Mortaza and only Dilshan with dignified batsmanship prevented the offer of a jewelled crown.

Old maids

Warnapura and Jayawardena were so hesitant, they were like two old maids with their bats. Only the foot soldiers at the tail end prevented total humiliation.

That they ultimately achieved success may have given them an aura of over-confidence and when the chips were down against the Indians our captain was like the boy who stood on the burning deck, not knowing what to do.

In one ODI the asking rate was 7.28 runs per over and with Jayawardena and Kapugedera harvesting dot balls, the rate kept rising to showcase the death of our cricket.

Sponsors don’t back a losing horse and in the final ODI empty seats howled for occupancy as Jayasuriya, Dilshan and Sangakkara played to restore pride and self-respect.

Unfair dismissal

Yuvraj would wreak revenge for the unfair dismissal and although there had been a time when opposing captains would say “Sri Lanka will chase any total,” most of today’s players perform like a bunch of virgins after miserable honeymoons.

What stood out in the final analysis was that Dhoni has welded together a seamless team in which every man sets about his task with measured purpose and on our side the discovery of Dilshan for the opener’s slot and the languid grace and fluency of Kumar Sangakkara’s batsmanship.