Touted to be the final of the Asian heavy-weights, it turned out to be another farcical collapse on the part of the Indians. India are now almost certainly going to be branded as “chokers” having lost all but one of their last 15 finals.

Sri Lanka won the toss and Marvan Atapattu wasted no time in electing to bat first. Seventy-five percent of the time the team batting first at the Premadasa stadium has come out winners. Atapattu and Jayasuria got off to a blistering start as Zaheer Khan’s opening spell was reminiscent of the 2003 World Cup finals, where Adam Gilchrist had wreaked havoc on his wayward bowling. Jayasuria went on to plunder 67 runs in 77 balls, and in so doing became only the fourth batsman in ODI history to cross 10,000 runs. In fact, just a few days ago, Sourav Ganguly had become only the third batsman in history to achieve the same feat. The others include none other than Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam ul Haq. And fittingly, the next batsman closes to crossing 10,000 runs is the flamboyant Brian Lara. It is a testament of modern-day cricket that all these batsmen belonging to this exclusive club are contemporaries.

Ashish Nehra pulled it back for the Indians with a brilliant display of disciplined bowling, ending the match with 6 wickets in a spell of 10 overs at 5.9 runs/over. India had opted to play five specialist bowlers after their previous two matches against the Lankans where they had toppled the top-order but been unable to clean up the tail with part-timers. However, as Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out, statistically India have not fared any better when playing 5 specialist bowlers based on their win/loss record. ‘Twas to be yet again. The famed Kumble/Harbhajan spin tandem were ineffective as the experienced Sri Lankan batsmen, led by Mahela Jayawardene, trickled 104 runs from the spinners without a single wicket. That Kumble and Bhajji continuously strayed on middle and leg is a different matter altogether. It was up to Nehra again to clean up the batsmen, although not before Russell Arnold and Jayawardene had enabled Sri Lanka to the highest total of the tournament of 281 runs.

India had to maintain a competitive run-rate of 5.64 to win, but Virender Sehwag hit form at the right time. Setting a scorching pace he made Jayasuria look placid as he bludgeoned 48 runs from 22 balls. In fact, 22 of those runs came from a single over, as Atapattu changed bowlers and looked to Lokuhettige to stem the tide. But Sehwag had other plans hammering 4.4.6.4.4.4 off the over. Although Vaas had the last laugh getting Sehwag out in the very next over, India were scoring at 10 runs/over with an ideal platform to overhaul 281. India continued to cruise along comfortably, never losing sight of the asking rate with skipper Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh next taking India to 186/2 in 35 overs (RR: 5.31). So calm was their retort to the imposing Sri Lankan total that the dangerous Muttiah Muralitharan went wicketless in his first spell of 5 overs. Yuvraj and Dravid countered the spin attack by employing the sweep shot to good effect, but one sweep too many cost Yuvraj his wicket as he holed out to deep square leg. Mohammad Kaif maintained the pace and got off the mark immediately, and India were back in cruise control when an unexpected run-out, completely against the grain of play started the inevitable Indian batting collapse most Indian spectators had been anxiously anticipating for some time! Rahul Dravid flicked one to mid-wicket and took off for a dangerous single that Kaif was not interested in. Dravid was left half-way down the pitch by the time the bails had come off, and he stomped off in fury having made a patient 69 and looking well set to anchor India home. The only possible reason for Dravid’s random misjudgement could have been the fact that the fielder, Tilekaratne Dilshan, had been limping around a few balls before, looking in obvious discomfort. The rest is history! Kaif looked on is despair as the rest of the batsmen collapsed, and India ended on 263, 18 runs short.

Fittingly, Mahela Jayawardene was awarded the Man of the Series, and by the looks of it, is the Rahul Dravid of the Sri Lankan batting line-up. In fact, for all the hype surrounding India’s cricketing exploits, the Sri Lankan team is a far better ODI unit and truly deserve the #2 ranking behind the Australians. Their team looks well balanced, and besides Jayawardene, they have Jayasuria to match for the Sehwags and Afridi’s of other teams, Sangakarra to match for Australia’s ‘keeper-batsman Gilchrist, and Muralitharan and Vaas to compare to Warne and McGrath, respectively. Sri Lanka were the deserved winners of the Indian Oil Cup, and India cemented their place as favorite runners-up.

Your comments on this match report