Rex Clementine reporting from Cardiff
The Sri Lankan cricket team has been the most consistent team in ICC events during the last six years. Since 2007, there have been eight ICC events and Sri Lanka has reached the finals in four of them, while there have been two semi-final appearances.
The only instances when they did not reach the last four was at the 2007 World T-20 in South Africa and the 2009 Champions Trophy, also in South Africa.
One major drawback for the Sri Lankans though has been their inability to win finals.
Sri Lanka has lost all four ICC finals since 2007. Another negative has been India’s dominance over Sri Lanka in recent years; to be precise, since the launch of the IPL in 2008.
In the last 13 ODIs between the two countries, Sri Lanka has won only two, while India has dominated, having won 10 games, while one ended in a tie.
“Definitely disappointed and the whole nation is disappointed. But our fans will be happy that we at least reached the last four in a tournament, where the top eight countries played. But unfortunately, once again, we choked in the semi-finals against India,” Mathews told journalist after the defeat.
Mathews was asked whether he knew why Sri Lanka’s couldn’t improve on their record against India. “We knew we had to play some really good cricket to beat India and we worked out all the strategies. It was not the mental side of it, but India tend to play well against us, so I can’t really figure out what’s going on,” Mathews explained.
There was not much luck as well for Sri Lanka, as they lost vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal before the game, as he was nursing a groin injury.
Then Mathews lost a crucial toss and to make matters worse, opener Tillekeratne Dilshan had to retire with a calf strain after looking dangerous. “It was a bad day obviously. Dinesh Chandimal was not fit. The toss was very vital I thought. The wicket was swinging and seaming, so the batters were finding it hard to time the ball, especially with the two new balls. It was not coming on. It was a bit too paced, and it had a bit of lateral movement. Also, to add salt to the wound, there was Dilshan’s injury. He was batting so well, and unfortunately, he got injured. So, yeah to sum it up, it was a bad day in the office,” Mathews further said.
Sri Lanka looked comfortable to settle at 182, hoping the ball will still seam around when India batted.
While Lasith Malinga was disappointing, Nuwan Kulasekara created chances, but Sri Lanka’s fielding was sloppy and India reached the target with eight wickets in hand with 15 overs to spare – a comprehensive victory for the unbeaten team in the competition so far. “I thought 182 was below par. It’s nothing on that wicket. It got easier, and with the Indian batting lineup, you need at least 250.”
Sri Lanka showed no intensity during the Power Plays as well. They scored just 26 runs in the Mandatory Power Play of 10 overs and then just managed 12 more runs in the five over slot of the Batting Power Play. “Initially, I thought the first 10 overs we had to bat through; it was kind of a Test match batting, because it was not coming on, and it was not easy for the batsmen. As soon as we started the Batting Power Play, we lost Mahela, so we had to sort of rebuild once again. So we lost wickets at regular intervals, could not couldn’t really gather momentum at all.”
Despite the setback in the semi-final, Sri Lanka will take a lot of confidence from the fact they were able to beat hosts England and defending champions Australia. But what the fans back home desperately want is a win against India. “Well, we can’t be happy, you know? Our main objective was to get to the semi-finals, but I thought from there we wanted to kick on to the finals. But we just wanted to take one game at a time, and today was a bad day at the office. But credit should go to the whole team, the way they showed their character in the second and third games, after losing to New Zealand. We had to do it the hard way, and the boys, you know, rose up to the occasion. So, all credit should go to the whole team.”
COURTESY:THE ISLAND