India v Sri Lanka

Clash of the Asian Tigers
The match on Friday was a do or die situation for India. A loss would have ensured their virtual exit from the world cup. India’s exit would have meant another disaster after the ouster of Pakistan. This match did not bear much importance to the Lankan players as they had already cemented their position in the super eight stage. However an Indian win would have implied that Lanka moves to the next stage with no points.

Luck favored India with the coin
Rahul Dravid won the toss for India and elected to field first. His move was cited as an amendment to the decision taken by him in the match against Bangladesh. The skipper relied on his batsmen to pull off any total posted by the Lankan. The morning conditions were favorable for seam bowling and also supported swing due to the breeze. It was perfect decision with three pace bowlers in the squad.

Opening bowlers on a roll
Zaheer Khan started off the bowling with no sense of direction. It was getting hard for him to keep pace with the lateral movement on the pitch. He gave away as many as ten runs through extra runs. However the opening pair soon gripped the match by enhancing accuracy in their bowling. Zaheer Khan did the first damage to the Lankan side by picking up Jayasuriya while the scoreboard read 33 runs. The next to go was Jayawardene on 7 runs caught by Dhoni on the bowling of Ajit Agarkar.it was a superb catch by Dhoni. The Indian bowlers found their rhythm and Sri Lanka were stranded on 133 runs at the loss of 4 wickets at 32.2 over. Run rate 4.11 and at this rate, Srilanka would score only 206 runs in their alloted 50 overs.

Silva and Dilshan stuck to the pitch
After the top order batsmen could not find rhythm with the willow, the middle order batsmen took the march towards a healthy total. Jayasuriya fell for 6 runs from 23 balls followed by Jayawardene on 7 runs. The dangerous Sangakkara did put some resistance but was caught by Patel on the bowling of Ganguly. The other opener Upul Tharanga played a witty knock by putting on 64 runs from 90 balls. His stay at the crease was ensuring steady flow of runs for the Lankan team, he was the fourth wicket to fall. The middle order batsmen LPC Silva and TM Dilshan then took charge to revive the Lankan innings. They were involved in a valuable 83 runs partnership from 80 balls that took Sri Lanka past the 200 runs mark. Silva was out on 59 runs from 68 balls and Dilshan got out on 38 runs from 41 balls.

The tail Enders produced some fireworks
The tailenders Russel Arnold and Chaminda Vaas did exactly what the situation demanded. They sent the ball all over the park to bank upon the base made by the middle order batsmen. Arnold scored 19 runs from 13 balls with 3 boundaries to his credit and Vaas finished on 19 runs from 12 balls hitting 2 boundaries and a six. They scored more than 30 runs in the last three overs to post a Lankan total of 254 runs at the loss of 6 wickets.

Indian openers stumbled to Lankan pace
Indian opening pair had no clue as to how to counteract the Lankan Pace battery. Robin Utthappa started of well but soon fell to the veteran pacer Vaas on 18 runs from 27 balls. The former skipper Ganguly could not sense the length of the ball nor any gap between the fielders. His 23 balls stay at the wicket could earn him only 7 runs and was out by an attempted lofted shot on the bowling of Vaas.

Erratic batting performance by the middle order
The Indian middle order batsmen failed to shoulder the responsibility of taking the fight to the opposition. The fall started with Tendulkar and the rest followed suit. Tendulkar could not judge the pace of the ball by Fernando. It went past him to uproot his stumps with a golden duck against his name. Yuvraj Singh was run out because of a misjudged run on 6 runs. Dhoni also failed to live up to the hopes of billion of fans and Murlitharan arrested his legs in front of wickets again for a duck.

The dominating Lankan bowling
The Lankan bowlers tightened their grip on the match right from the start of the game. The Lankan pacers continuously fired at a speed of more than 145 kms per hour. After the initial damage caused by the pace battery it was the turn of the legendary spinner Murlitharan. His turn with the ball made incision through the Indian batting. He ended with a bowling statistics of 3 wickets from 10 wickets giving away 41 runs.

India lost hopes to making to the next stage
Indian squad was subjected another upset after their setback against Bangladesh. The Sri Lankan packed them off at the score of 185 runs. Thus with many of the veteran players at the dawn of their career could not fulfill their hopes of lifting the cup. India lost this match by a formidable margin of 69 runs.

Man of The Match
The veteran right arm off spinner Murlitharan won the title of man of the match for his agility with the ball. His arm-twisting foxed and tossed the Indians out of the World Cup.