India crushed Sri Lanka by 183 runs to storm into the semifinals of the World Cup in style. It was a potentially tough game, for both India and Sri Lanka know each other’s game inside out and so should have had a close match, but once India got off to that flying start, the Sri Lankans just did not have the stomach to go out and make it a competitive game. In fact, even before the game started, the sound-bytes emanating from the Lankan camp were negative and showed the nervous state they were in.
The uncertainty about their skipper’s participation and the poor form of their middle-order batsmen apart from the old war-horse Aravinda de Silva was not encouraging, and when their best bowler made a confession that it was not easy to fox Sachin Tendulkar, the game was over even before a ball had been bowled.
Still, India knew that to take them lightly would be a mistake and so they went all guns blazing and ensured that barring a great pick-up performance from the Lankans, it would be bye-bye to them in this World Cup.
Tendulkar had failed against Kenya, which meant that the law of averages was taken care of. He began the innings with a sharp single to show how keen he was to make amends for that rare failure, and then when Sehwag started to time his drives well, it was a treat for the crowd.
Sri Lanka do not have the extra pace that is necessary to trouble batsmen of this class, and though Vaas is bowling well, he had zero support at the other end. With Sehwag allowed to get comfortably onto the front foot, the Sri Lankans retreated onto the back foot as the openers, sensing there was no competition from the bowlers, had one between themselves.
Tendulkar outscored Sehwag and that was understandable considering the touch he is in and the form Sehwag is in, but the latter almost caught up with him before throwing his wicket away going for another six. Ganguly continued his good form with a fine innings and India looked set to go over 300.
Tendulkar lost out on another century attempting the lap shot, which is fine against spinners from other countries, but perhaps not as productive against spinners from the subcontinent. It was a soft dismissal, especially for someone who has such great power and timing that he does not need to play a shot that would get him a two at best. Kaif once again ran well between the wickets but is still struggling to get the ball away, as is Mongia.
Javagal Srinath is in the best form of his life, not only bowling sharp but also putting the ball in the right place, and his burst of four wickets ended any hopes Sri Lanka might have had of making a match of it. He got the in-form Atapattu and Aravinda, and with Jayasuriya not getting his timing and finding it hard to get power in his drives, the Lankans were out of the game even before Ganguly made the first bowling change.
What was disappointing to the Sri Lankan follower must have been the lack of fight shown. There was no application worth the name and the eventual victory margin was an actual reflection of the confidence levels of the contestants. If Sri Lanka are to go ahead in this tournament, they should learn from the Indians how to pick themselves up as they did after a similar drubbing from Australia.
In fact, the world champs will now know that they will have a different Indian team to contend with when they next meet, probably in the finals of the tournament. India have now assured themselves of the No. 2 position at least and that means that they do not face Australia in the semis.
The Lankans can still make it there if they beat Zimbabwe, but in their present frame of mind, it’s going to be an uphill task. That’s why they will hopefully have spent the time after the early finish to ask Ganguly and his boys how they did it.
