Thank you Mahela and Sanga – see you in Tests and 50 overs
View(s):A gloomy and a quiet Sunday evening was disturbed by the sound of crackers and the sky was illuminated with fireworks when Thisara Perera lofted Ravichandran Ashwin over the long-on boundary into the stands to bring Sri Lanka victory in the World T20 fials over the unbeaten Indians at the Sher-E-Bangla stadium in Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka having being the bridesmaid on four previous occasions in different formats of the game was crowned the Queen of World T20 cricket thus bringing the wishes and blessings of twenty one million people who waited for 18 years for a reality.
This win is a dream come true for the two elderly cricketing stalwarts in Mahela Jayawardene and Kumara Sangakkara who were the main contributors to bring Sri Lanka victory in their last appearance in the T20 format of cricket. Both of them showed their skill and the experience to guide us to victory after a well organized bowling attack restricted the strong Indian batting line up for a mere 130 runs in 20 overs.
Every member of the team rallied around the skipper to give their best. Sri Lankan bowling attack never gave the free scoring Indians a chance to cut loose except for Virat Kohli all others were all at sea against the tidy attack backed by panthers like fielders. It was a delight to watch the two cricketing gentlemen Mahela and Sangakkara assisting the skipper on the field right throughout the Indian innings. Indians failed to cope with the top class bowling attack and failed to read the variation and length and kept the in-form Kohli at the non-strikers end for most of the time thus preventing the Indians to go for big shots in the last five overs which they are capable of. In chasing a victory target of 130 runs it was the experienced Mahela and Sanga who rose up to the occasion to see Sri Lanka through in their last appearance. It was a delight to watch these two great strikers of the ball in action and the way they collected runs using their experience with nippy footwork, placing the ball into gaps with sweetly timed drives that kiss the turf with sheer power.
This victory is a gift for Mahela and Sangakkara for their contributions and sacrifices they have rendered for Sri Lanka cricket and the whole nation rose up to salute you both.
Even though Sri Lanka achieved victory in the final without any difficulty, special mention has to be made about our leading spinner Rangana Herath. If not for his magical spell that tamed the Kiwis in the most important match in the preliminary round to enter semi-finals or else Sri Lankan cricketers would have arrived in the island very much earlier.
Even though these two cricketing stalwarts will not be in action any more in T20s the entire nation is lucky to see them performing in the other two formats of the game. – LR