Sri Lanka ZINDABAD, enter T20 final
Pakistan suffer 16-run defeat:
Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting
Magnificent bowling by Anjelo Mathews 2 for 27, Ajantha Mendis 2 for
27 and Rangana Herath 3 for 25 helped Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 16 runs
and enter the 2012 Twenty20 World Cup final at the R.Premadasa
Stadium,under lights, yesterday.
Once again it was the cool and calculated captaincy of Mahela
Jayawardene that brought about a memorable victory for Sri Lanka. He
handled his bowlers cleverly and placed fields that the Pakistani
batsmen could not penetrate. He was rightly adjudged the man of the
match. In reply to Sri Lanka’s 139 for 4 in 20 overs, Pakistan could
manage only 123 for 7 in 20 overs.
In their quest of 140 for victory openers Mohammed Hafeez and Imran
Nazir put on 31 before Nazir was beaten and bowled by a beauty from
Ajantha Mendis for 20 in 21 balls with 3 fours.
Vice Captain Anjelo Mathews coming on to bowl his second over rocked
the Pakistanis when he had the wickets of Nasir Jamshed for 4 and Kamran
Akmal for 1 to leave them at 57 for 3.
Then Rangana Herath bowled Shoaib Malik for 6 and Pakistan was
struggling on 64 for 4. Umar Akmal the most dangerous batsman in the
Pakistani side was dropped a sitter by Lasith Malinga at deep mid on and
that was the drop that nearly let the Pakistanis off the hook.
Herath had two more wickets that of Mohammed Hafeez for 42 and next
ball bowled Sahid Afridi for no score to leave Pakistan tottering at 91
for 6.
Tillekeratne Dilshan who usually plays the role of hero, this time
round was guilty of playing the role of villain, crawling to 35 runs in
43 balls which put the advantage of winning the toss to no avail and
made the Sri Lankan batting pedestrian.
From evening the cricket crazy spectators were streaming in and when
the first ball was bowled the stands were bursting at the seams. Skipper
Mahela Jayawardene ended his streak of losing tosses by winning this all
important toss and was all smiles as he said ‘we’ll bat’. The wicket was
the same on which the women’s semi-final was played, but it got a
rolling over before the men’s semi began.
The wicket looked good for batting, with the ball coming nicely on to
the bat and a score of anything over 150 or 160 could be a winning one.
Sri Lanka made one change from the team that played the winning one
against England at Pallekele bringing in left arm spinner Rangana Herath
and benching Akila Perera.
Pakistan left out all rounder Abdul Razzaq and gave left arm medium
pace bowler the left armer Sohail Tanvir a bowl. Razzaq’s dropping was
inexplicable. The Sri Lanka openers could not get going and give their
side the belligerent start that is so vey essential in this style of
game, with the first six overs only producing 34 runs.
With Tillekeratne Dilshan in shackles – scoring only 19 in 30 balls
at one stage, it was left to Jayawardene to push the runs. He played his
usual signature cover shots and the reverse sweep intelligently, but
playing it too often skied a catch to Hasan at short fine leg. He made
42 in 36 balls with 7 fours and was out at 63.
Sri Lanka then lost Kumar Sangakkara for 18 in 11 balls with 3 fours,
Tillekeratne Dilshan for 35 in 43 balls with 3 fours, Jeevan Mendis for
15 in 18 with one four. It was left to Thisara Perera to come in and
bludgeon two fours off an Umar Gul over to finally take Sri Lanka to 139
for 4, which was not formidable a score. Perera had 11 in 7 balls with 2
fours and Anjelo Mathews 10 in 6 with one four. They put on 21 in 12
balls which was the only bright spot in the Lankan batting.
Sri Lanka
M. Jayawardene c Hasan b Afridi 42
T. Dilshan lbw b Gul 35
K. Sangakkara c Malik b Hafeez 18
J. Mendis st Kamran b Ajmal 15
T. Perera not out 11
A. Mathews not out 10
Extras: (b3, nb1, w4) 8
Total: (for four wickets, 20 overs) 139
Fall of wickets: 1-63, 2-84 , 3-117, 4-118.
Bowling: Tanveer 3-0-11-0 (w1), Hasan 4-0-26-0, Ajmal 4-0-33-1 (w1),
Afridi 4-0-28-1, Hafeez 2-0-12-1 (w1), Gul 3-0-26-1 (nb1, w1)
Pakistan
Mohammad Hafeez st Sangakkara b Herath 42
Imran Nazeer b A. Mendis 20
Nasir Jamshed lbw b Mathews 4
Kamran Akmal c Jayawardene b Mathews 1
Shoaib Malik b Herath 6
Umar Akmal not out 29
Shahid Afridi b Herath 0
Sohail Tanveer st Sangakkara b A. Mendis 8
Umar Gul not out 2
Extras: (lb2, w9) 11
Total: (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 123
Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-55, 3-57, 4-64, 5-91, 6-91, 7-113.
Bowling: Mathews 4-0-27-2, Kulasekara 3-0-15-0 (w2), Malinga 4-0-19-0 (w7),
A. Mendis 4-0-27-2, Perera 1-0-8-0, Herath 4-0-25-3.
|