My impression on the WC final

Bro. Nimal Gurusinghe FSC

I am sure that millions of Sri Lanka Cricket fans are highly disappointed to see Sri Lanka losing in the final match. Now it has become history. By gones are by gones. But all the same Sri Lankans must be happy and proud, because our country became runners-up in the two consecutive World Cups. Many countries cannot be proud of this achievement.

I congratulate our cricketers for this great achievement. During the whole tournament our players played very hard. They gave their best to the team.

All of them played like professionals and showed to the world that we are second to none. Our gallant cricketers kept the Lion flag flying right through the tournament. They really brought honour and glory to our land. Hats off to Kumara Sangakkara and his team mates.

I appreciate their team spirit and passion to win. It was evident the way they played in the entire tournament. Before we entered the final we lost only to Pakistan by 11 runs. If our star bowler Lasith Malinga played that day definitely we would have won that match.

Whereas India before entering the final, they lost to South Africa and had a tie with England. If you compare both teams in this angle Sri Lanka had a better side. If the final was played on a neutral venue result would have been different.

All the same that particular day Indians played like champions. Really speaking on April 02, 2011 India was a better side and they deserve to win. It was a gem of an innings played by their skipper M S Dhoni. It is difficult to perform like that especially when you are under pressure.

He rose to the occasion and displayed an object batting lesson. He made sure that his country won the match. It was a memorable innings. I always cherish that excellent and spotless innings.

What happened in the final?

It was all over. All the same as an ardent cricket enthusiastic I would like to put forward my opinion on our performance in the final. Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat. It was the correct decision. When you saw the pitch it was an ideal batting wicket, any team could score about 350 runs.

At least a team should score 330 runs to give a good fight with strong Indian batting line up. Our lads had scored only 9 runs for the 1st 5 overs. Our score was 83 when finished the 20th over. But at the end Sri Lanka managed to reach 274 runs. Thanks to Mahela, Sangakkara, Nuwan and Tisara. Their contributions helped us make this formidable total. Mehela Jayawardena played a magnificent innings. He played with lot of responsibility and determination. Unfortunately after playing such a glorious knock he was in the losing side. If our openers had given us a better start and little more runs we could have reached at least 300 runs.

While fielding we started with a very high note by sending Virender Sehwag to the pavilion in the very first over. Then again when the score was 31 we got the price wicket of Sachin Tendulkar. At that time our players were over joyed and already celebrated the World Cup victory. But they forgot that India had another five match winning batting stars in the team. From there onwards India started building the innings. Gambhir and Kohli put up 83 runs partnership. They always kept a healthy run rate. Then Dhoni replaced Kohli and put our bowlers to the sword. After Gambhir’s departure man of the series Yuraj Singh walked in and joined with his captain. Both of them put icing to the cake for all Indians to celebrate.

Questionable Selection criteria

Ajantha Mendis really bowled well during the whole tournament. His economy rate was 3 runs per over. It was very strange our team preferred Randiv in place of Ajantha Mendis. Suraj Randiv was not in the final fifteen. I am sure he must have felt that he was like a fish out of water. Naturally he could not take a single wicket.

No doubt Muralitharan is a cricket legend. But that day he was not fit to play a match, especially an important final. It was evident from his movements. Rightly so he could not take a single wicket. If he was in good health he would have taken at least two wickets. Giving a fitting farewell to a player and winning the World Cup are two different things.

Did we want to give a farewell to Muralitharan or win the World Cup? Altimately we achieved neither. Why did we expose a half fit player for the most prestigious World Cup Final? Then again it was a surprise to see Kapugedara for the final match. It became a laughing stock.

This lad never played a single match during the entire tournament and was asked to deliver goods at the final. Any sensible cricket fan cannot understand, why Randiv, Muralitharan and Kapugedara played in the final. Instead of them I feel we could have played with Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath and Chamara Silva.

Whatever said and done our cricketers have put Sri Lanka into very high position in world cricket map. I thank all the cricketers for their hard work and dedication. May our cricket go from strength to strength.