The Indians will have to do a lot of soul searching
If the Sri Lankans humbled the Indians on the Friday, they humiliated them in the final of the Coca-Cola Champions Trophy at Sharjah
Woorkheri Raman
30-Oct-2000
If the Sri Lankans humbled the Indians on the Friday, they humiliated
them in the final of the Coca-Cola Champions Trophy at Sharjah. At the
start of the 49th over during the Sri Lankan innings, both the
captains reached a stage where they couldn't care less, but for
different reasons. While Jayasuriya was intent on throwing his bat at
anything and everything without bothering about the results, Ganguly
decided to bring himself on to bowl, as he must have thought that it
could not get worse. Jayasuriya despatched the first ball for a four
but got out the very next delivery. It was the only triumph for
Ganguly on a day which otherwise was something short of a torture.
Jayasuriya called correctly during the toss and from then on wrote his
own script in which every other player in the opposing rank was more
or less a pawn to be manipulated to his wont. A cover-drive off the
very first ball he faced from Zaheer Khan clearly indicated that the
big occasion was not playing on his nerves. Both Jayasuriya and
Kaluwitharana started off freely with the skipper leading the way with
some rousing shots. His partner Kaluwitharana also started in an
ominous fashion but failed to play a substantial knock. Jayasuriya
subdued the duo of Zaheer Khan and Agarkar from the word go but Khan
pulled things back after a wayward first over. Khan eventually
accounted for Kaluwitharana when the partnership appeared to be
running away.
This breakthrough brought the spring back in the Indians' stride with
Atapattu starting off in his customary sedate fashion. Meanwhile
Jayasuriya made Prasad pay very dearly for his inaccuracy with a
combination of deft touch and raw power. The introduction of Joshi and
Tendulkar slowed things down with both of them managing to restrict
even Jayasuriya. Atapattu was unfortunate to be run out with the ball
deflecting off Tendulkar's hands to the stumps while attempting to
stop a drive from Jayasuriya. It was a close call but technology helps
the umpires to give the correct verdict. Mahela Jayawardena made the
mistake of playing shots too early in his innings and his slog
resulted in a skier to be snapped up by Yuvraj Singh.
Jayasuriya was bringing all his experience to keep his attacking
instincts under control but the inability of Sangakkara to work the
ball around tested the patience of the skipper. Jayasuriya was visibly
annoyed on more than one occasion when Tendulkar was allowed to get
away with some loose deliveries. Sangakkara perished trying a play an
expansive drive off Tendulkar with the inner edge knocking the off
stump back. This dismissal was the time for the Indians to just force
their way through into the enemy camp but the man of the day,
Jayasuriya, had a totally different plot in his script altogether. He
found a more than willing ally in Arnold and both of them clawed their
way out with some sensible batting in the middle overs. By the end of
the 32nd over, a total of 240 would have looked good enough to the Sri
Lankans.
The action from that point onwards was breathtaking and any amount of
adjectives is not enough to describe the knock Jayasuriya played.
Sunil Joshi dropped a straightforward catch off his own bowling and
after that, the blitzkrieg from the Sri Lankan skipper was so
bamboozling the Indians found it difficult to get over it. Jayasuriya,
the genteel human being that he is, seemed as though he was possessed
and attacked the Indian attack with incredible ferocity. He had the
chance of becoming the first person to get a double hundred in onedayers, but a pre meditated charge down the pitch led to his
dismissal.
A target of 300 is not all that easy for the best of batting sides and
as such it was even more harder for the Indians who depend on a couple
of batsmen heavily. Ganguly was hell bent on proving that he could
play the pull shot in this particular tournament and was once again
dismissed by Vaas with a shorter delivery. The mistimed pull from
Ganguly resulted in not only an easy catch to mid-on but it also
triggered off an unexpected and inexplicable collapse. The entire
batting line-up wilted under pressure and the Sri Lankans bowled them
out for the lowest ever total in Sharjah. Vaas and Muralitharan just
ran through the Indians almost as if they were bowling to a bunch of
amateurs.
The Indians will have sit and do a lot of soul searching as they have
a long season ahead of them. They have to forget the good days they
had at Nairobi and with cricket being the great leveler, it has
brought the Indians back to reality that consistency is what matters
in a team. In the interest of the team and also in his interest
Ganguly should refrain from indulging in the pre-match verbal sparring
bouts. He and his team would be better off if they prove themselves on
the field rather than get sucked into unwanted situations.