Sri Lanka reserved their best performance of the Coca-Cola Cup untilthe end and cheered on by an animated capacity crowd, they crushedIndia by 121 runs in the final played tonight at the Premadasa Stadiumin Colombo
Charlie Austin05-Aug-2001Sri Lanka reserved their best performance of the Coca-Cola Cup untilthe end and cheered on by an animated capacity crowd, they crushedIndia by 121 runs in the final played tonight at the Premadasa Stadiumin Colombo.India had looked the form side after three consecutive victories, butthey once again failed at the final hurdle. Amazingly, for such atalented side, this is the eighth ODI final they have lost insuccession.Sri Lanka though extended an impressive run in One-Day cricket. Theyhave now won their last four triangular tournaments and have not losta One-Day tournament or series at home for over three years.Dav Whatmore was delighted: “The Sri Lanka team saved the best tilllast in this tournament. Recently, in the biggest games, we haveplayed our best cricket.” Sourav Ganguly didn’t hide hisdisappointment: “We didn’t play well in any department of the game andwe were never really in the game when we batted. We have been givingaway too many runs in the final.”He identified Zaheer Khan’s dropped catch off Jayasuriya as a keymoment: “Jayasuriya is a very good player and he seems to win crucialgames against us. I think the catch we dropped was very crucial.”In fact, Sri Lanka never looked like losing this match after captainSanath Jayasuriya won an important toss in the afternoon – of theseven matches played at this ground in this tournament, only one waswon by the side chasing – and elected to bat first.So far, in this tournament, the Sri Lankan batting had failed toperform cohesively, with fine individual performances papering overmini collapses, especially in the middle order. This afternoon,however, they fired on all cylinders, with five out of the top sixbatsmen making significant scores.With half centuries from Jayasuriya, who was cruelly dismissed for 99,Mahela Jayawardene and Russel Arnold, plus useful cameos from RomeshKaluwitharana and Avishka Gunawardene, they scored 295 for five, thehighest score in the tournament by far and the sixth largest ever atthis ground.To win, India had to rewrite the history books – the highest everscore successfully chased at Premadasa was the 243 target overhauledby India back in 1998. They also had to have a start like they haddone at the Sinhalese Sports Club on Thursday when Virender Shewag hadflogged a 69-ball century.Shewag (4) though never got a chance to get going, as he was run outby a direct hit by Arnold, backing up too far in just the second overof the innings. Indian captain Sourav Ganguly (1) was dismissed nextball, as he cut straight to backward point – for not the first time inthe series. India were five for two with their backs firmly againstthe wall.Rahul Dravid (21), the highest scoring Indian batsmen in the serieswith 259 runs, and VVS Laxman (37) kept Indian hopes alive for alittle while as they added 56 runs off 70 balls before Dravid playedon to his stumps in the 14th over and Laxman clipped a catch to midwicket off Kumar Dharmasena in the 20th.They were never likely to recover, especially with MuttiahMuralitharan still having a full quota of overs to bowl, and didn’t,as wickets fell steadily.Arnold squeezed a delivery under the bat of Yuvraj Singh (6); HemangBadani (22) was run out after a mix up with Ritender Sodhi (6); Sodhiwas bowled as he tried to loft Muralitharan into the top tier; andHarbhajan Singh (15) was caught bat pad.Sameer Dighe (23) batted stubbornly with Zaheer Khan (16), adding 33runs in nine overs, but by then it was just a face saving exercise andthey were eventually bowled out for 174.Earlier, the Sri Lankan batsmen had appeared to be inspired by ahighly charged partisan atmosphere. Jayasuriya and Gunwardene (31) setthe tone with 71 runs off 65 balls.Ganguly was forced to turn to Harbhajan Singh in just the ninth overas Zaheer Khan’s first four overs cost 30 runs. The off spinnerimmediately slowed down the scoring and trapped Gunawardene leg beforewicket – so plumb that he actually walked.When Marvan Atapattu (5) drove a short delivery from Shewag lamely toGanguly at short cover the Indian players may have sensed another SriLankan middle order slump.Jayawardene (57) though gave his captain, who needed a runner aftersuffering from leg cramps, good support and the pair added 104 in 20overs.With the crowd all poised to celebrate another exciting Jayasuriyacentury the left-hander pushed a simple catch straight to Ganguly atmid-wicket. Jayawardene was dismissed soon after as he optimisticallytried to reverse sweep Harbhajan Singh, by far the best Indian bowler.The Sri Lankan innings appeared to be faltering. After 40 overs theyhad scored 219 and with Russel Arnold (52) and Romesh Kaluwitharana(31*) initially struggling to time the ball, only a reasonable targetappeared likely.But Arnold and Kaluwitharana suddenly went into overdrive and,whipping the crowd into a frenzy, they smashed 60 runs from the finalsix overs to post a total that was never likely to be eclipsed withSachin Tendulkar not playing.
