Just have a look at the satisfaction on Atapattu's face. Boy...what a farce! First the Indian big-wigs don't see Wright fit enough to continue his term, then they get someone like Greg Chappell who's more interested to put his views forward through to the media than the players themselves and then Dravid becomes the captain of the team despite Sourav Ganguly being back. What the hell are they trying to do here? And now see what has happened! India loses yet another final.
Virender Sehwag, who has had a very poor series, gave India a fighting chance with a 22-ball 48 that shell shocked the Sri Lankans. Sehwag, who has not been at his best all tournament, hit the ball cleanly from the word go. More importantly he found the gaps unerringly and raced along to a flying start, peppering the advertising hoardings from long-off to point with a series of booming drives. Dilhara Lokuhettige suffered a nightmarish over - 4,4,6,4,4,4 - being carted for 26 runs by Sehwag. Anything full went effortlessly over the off-side field, which was constantly changing, and Lokuhettige's best efforts to mix it up, throwing in slower balls, were in vain.
But fortunately for Sri Lanka, Vaas, who had announced his return to international cricket with a series of probing deliveries bang on target, kept his head amidst the carnage. He curved one in to Sehwag and the half-hearted cut shot ricocheted back on to the stumps (62 for 1). But Sehwag's knock had given India a great start - with 62 coming off just 6.2 overs.
Ganguly, though never completely fluent, played a couple of pleasing cover-drives, but fell as soon as spin was introduced. Dilshan got a delivery to pitch on the stumps from round the wicket and straighten just enough to win the lbw decision.
Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh then watchfully shepherded India to 186 in the 36th over before Yuvraj needlessly swept a Chandana delivery to be caught in the deep by Dilhara after making 42 from 58 deliveries. A little later skipper Rahul Dravid ran himself out while going for a run that never existed.
Jayawardene worked hard for his runs at the start of his innings, working the ball cleverly into the gaps for singles. But the right-hander seized the initiative once he had hit his first boundary, which came after he had faced 58 balls. India were left ruing two dropped catches by Mahendra Dhoni behind the stumps - a difficult diving chance off Jayasuriya on 19 and an easier one off Jayawardene down the leg-side on 25.
The 28-year-old Jayawardene shared a 125-run stand in just 117 balls with Russel Arnold, who took on the Indian attack to score 64 from 63 deliveries. Jayasuriya provided the foundation for the total with an entertaining knock which featured nine boundaries. He reached his 10,000-run landmark with a pull for four off Irfan Pathan, thus following in the footsteps of Sachin Tendulkar (13,642), Inzamam-ul-Haq (10,933) and Sourav Ganguly (10,020).
To top it all, Dravid blames it all to the Indian Batsmen. All you need to do is check out the ScoreBoard to realise how badly he himself performed.
Well, anyways...I guess it was all inevitable. I admit that I'm a die-hard fan of Sourav Ganguly but, I'm saying this with utmost unbiasness, he is the best captain India has ever got and he's the still the best around. That guy has to undergo a lot, had to prove his weight at each and every juncture of his career. I just hope people now just give him a break and let him play his game without thinking of getting the nation's flak 24x7.
(Source: Indiatimes Cricket News)
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