Sa’adi Thawfeeq reporting from Mumbai
MUMBAI, Saturday - Sri Lanka once again had to be content with the title of bridesmaid after finishing second to India in the Cricket World Cup final played to a packed Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
They were runner-up to Australia at the 2007 World Cup in 2007.
For Kumar Sangakkara and his boys it was a big disappointment not to have the silver ware in their possession after months and months of practice and sacrifice.
Sri Lanka was one of the favourites to lift the World Cup and quite rightly they reached the final keeping faith with their ranking, but in a final only one team can win and on this occasion it happened to be Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s India who emerged triumphant by six wickets after nearly seven hours of intense cricket.Read more
The final between two giants of Asian cricket lived up to its hype and provided the capacity 32,000 spectators value for money.
Although finishing on the losing side, Sri Lanka can well be proud of their performance. Former captain Mahela Jayawardene scored a glorious century full of silken strokes around the wicket to give Sri Lanka a total they could defend. When Lasith Malinga sent back India’s two experienced openers Virender Sehwag and local boy Sachin Tendulkar cheaply Sri Lanka were sensing victory at that stage. But today was not to be Sri Lanka’s day. The dropped catch off Gautam Gambhir proved to be crucial miss for it enabled India to bounce back into the game and turn it around in their favour.
“Our fielding was poor. We could have stopped the singles and doubles, but hard luck we lost. That’s cricket, that’s the nature of the game, you can’t predict it. Missing the catch eventually resulted in losing the cup,” said Anupa Maththemagoda a businessman, who watched the final on a giant screen in Colombo with his wife and two daughters.
The whole nation was glued to the television watching the Lions battle it out with India for the most prestigious Cup in cricket.
For Sangakkara and Co the defeat would have been hard to swallow for this was the final chance for most of the team members to lay their hands on a World Cup before they retire.
Muthiah Muralitharan who bowed out of one-day cricket after the final failed to produce his usual magic and that alone proved that luck was not with Sri Lanka.
The presence of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his entourage at the final proved an inspiration to the team to raise their game but although Sri Lanka tried valiantly, today was not to be their day. As Sri Lanka captain Sangakkara put it across rather gingerly, ‘The better side won.”
Courtesy - The Nation
