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Jayawardena's three figure batting show:
Mahela's repeat of 2007 WC semi
Kenneth DABARERA
In my article which appeared on Valentine's day, February 14, 2011 in
the Sports Weekly of the Ceylon Daily News titled "Sri Lanka is a force
to be reckoned with" - I stated only a miracle could prevent India
winning the World Cup and Sri Lanka would meet India in the finals and
if Sri Lanka fire all cylinders and do better in the mind games with
little bit of luck could beat India.
But it was not to be with the formidable Indian side and the other
reasons for the defeat; your guess is as good as mine.
Pressure
I stated in my previous article the innings that Mahela Jayawardena
played in the 2007 World Cup semi finals under pressure when the chips
were down to bring Sri Lanka to the finals, could be considered a
glimpse of Sri Lanka winning the 1996 World Cup.
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Sri Lankan cricketer Mahela Jayawardene (R) with his wife
Christine (2R) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (L) with wife Manjula
(2L) arrive at a tea party hosted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
AFP |
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Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (L) shakes
hands with Indian President Pratibha Patil during a tea party at
the Governor’s House in Mumbai on April 3, 2011. India won the
Cricket World Cup for the first time since 1983 with a
six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka on April 2. AFP |
But it is nothing new to the general public, that a political
commentator of an electronic media spoke out of turn during the World
Cup first round which completely demoralised the great Mahela reaching
his usual self and Sri Lanka cricket ending in doldrums. It was great of
him to realise the grave mistake before anything very serious happen to
appear in public to tender his apology which healed all wounds and
Mahela was brought back to his normal self.
If not for Mahela's great innings and Lasith Malinga sending the
great Indian opening pair Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar to the
pavilion no sooner than they arrived at the crease, Sri Lankan batting,
bowling and fielding was in tatters and was no match to the mighty
Indians which kept Sri Lankan cricketing public in doubt and dismay.
Besides dropping two vital catches, ground fielding was so ordinary
when there was only a single they ran two effortlessly. The entire side
was lethargic in the field, the usual fighting spirit was never seen in
the finals from captain down the line, bowlers seldom bowled line and
length, dew factor was no excuse, as we have fought the dew factor,
better on many an occasion, elemenatory rules of bowling round the
wicket to left handers were not adopted when occasions demanded. There
was a large lacunae in the team's selection as never before. Dropping
Mendis and playing half fit Muralitharan who could not give his best,
was seen as vital errors. Besides formidable Indian play, our errors in
and out of the field contributed to our defeat. Neither divine
intervention nor Lady Luck was on our side.
Predictions
In my last article all my predictions came true except that I
predicted Australian to be in the semi finals and not New Zealand. As
predicted the sacrificial innings that Dhoni played laid icing on the
cake. The only pride Sri Lanka had is to retain the runners-up title.
In conclusion I would like to state that Sri Lankan pubic who was at
the airport, when our team arrived and gave them a heroes' welcome and
others were lined up on the way side in pockets and cheered the
cricketers up to the Independence Hall where a ceremony was arranged to
welcome them and a large crowd of Sri Lanka Cricket loving public was in
attendance to show the world in general and Asia in particular how
sporty the cricket loving public of Sri Lanka is. |
