Visually handicapped Lankan cricketers runners-up
The Sri Lanka Visually Handicapped team with the runner-up trophy
Sri Lanka again failed to break the hoodoo in defeating India in visually handicapped cricket as they were beaten easily in the finals of the Tri Nation Cricket T20 Tournament concluded yesterday at the GCA Stadium Goa in India.
Sri Lanka had a easy sail to the finals when they defeated England by ten wickets in the semi finals. In the preliminary round match India managed to beat Sri Lanka by one run. Sri Lanka failed to carry forward the good work they did at the earlier matches and went down easily to India.
Host India, Sri Lanka and England competed at this tournament.
India won the toss and put Sri Lanka into bat and the decision paid dividends as the Lankan were dismissed for 119. The ever reliable openers Deshapriya and K. Silva failed to give the island nation a sound start and both were dismissed with the score at 12. Pathum Saman Kumara and and skipper Priyantha Kumara made a valiant effort to build up a respectable total scoring 23 and 30 respectively. Other batsmen failed to cope with the well handled Indian attack caused the down fall of Sri Lanka.
Medium pacie A. Reddy was the most the successful bowler to claim 4 for 15.
Indian openers made merry with the Sri Lankan attack in reaching the victory target of 119 without any loss with 8.4 overs to spare
A. Rao was unbeaten on 63 scoring off 44 deliveries which included ten hits to the ropes while the other opener A. Gariya was on 43 n.o. scored off 35 deliveries.
Chief Scores:
Sri Lanka-119 (20) (Pathum Saman Kumara 23, Priyantha Kumara 30 n.o., A. Reddy 4 for 15)
India-120 for no loss (11.2) (A. Rao 63 n.o., A. Gariya 43 n.o.)
Man of the Match: A. Reddy (India)
Player of the Series: A.K. Silva (Sri Lanka)