Karachi: Ajantha Mendis was always going to be one of the posers for the Indian batsmen, but even then they would have thought 273 was gettable. They underestimated the bowler, or rather, overestimated their own abilities to handle him. The result was a sobering 100-run defeat, with Mendis returning figures of 6-13.
Earlier, Sri Lanka had to be thankful to Sanath Jayasuriya (125) for carrying them to 273 in 49.4 overs, a target that should have been easy for India on this dead track, but Mendis had other plans. Continue reading below
Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and sent Sri Lanka in to bat, and till about the 10th over of the Indian innings, that looked like a brilliant move.
To be fair to the skipper, it was a good move but neither he, nor his batsmen, had taken Mendis into consideration.
Coming in to bowl in the 10th over, after Chaminda Vaas had dismissed Gautam Gambhir early, Mendis turned the match with his second ball, getting rid of a rampaging Virender Sehwag, who was completely bamboozled as he stepped out, and the bowler reduced the length of the delivery. Sehwag was stumped practically by a mile.
Two balls later, a ripping faster one shattered Yuvraj Singh's stumps.
Dhoni, looking on from the far end, was hoping someone would show some poise, but Suresh Raina tried and unbelievable hoick, and lost his furniture to Mendis, while Rohit Sharma completely misread a doosra.
Things didn't improve much and while Dhoni and Robin Uthappa, brought in to bolster the Indian batting, tried to create a partnership, it was the turn of Muttiah Muralitharan to come to the party, as he trapped Uthappa in front.
Mendis returned to remove Irfan Pathan and RP Singh off consecutive deliveries and the match was all but over. Vaas then returned to remove Dhoni, and it was all over bar the shouting.
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Earlier, the Indian bowlers backed Dhoni's decision to field first after winning the toss, as the Sri Lankans, caught between the great initial spell by Ishant Sharma, and their own urge to put up a huge total, ended up with a pretty average 273 off 49.4 overs, despite a classic 125 by Jayasuriya.
At this stage, keeping in mind the way the square at the National Stadium here has played, India were favourites to lift their fifth Asia Cup title.
Dhoni backed what he thought was their strongest suit -- batting. He decided that he would leave the target-setting to the Sri Lankans, and then hope that his batsmen would chase it down successfully, as they have frequently done in the tournament.
Whatever plans Jayawardene had of putting up an unreachable total, were put paid to early on as Kumar Sangakkara was sent back too late by Jayasuriya. Suresh Raina's underhand throw dealt the first blow for the Lankans.
Thereafter, Ishant Sharma took over, removing Jayawardene, Chamara Kapugedera and Chamara Silva in quick succession to put Sri Lanka on the back foot.
The only man to defy the bowlers and have some sort of leash on the situation was Jayasuriya, who hammered the bowling like only he can do, scoring his 27th ODI century.
But he too finally fell to the pressure to the situation, as his efforts to keep up the scoring pushed him into lofting a catch off Sehwag.
Irfan Pathan and RP Singh, extremely happy to see the damage being done by the bowlers, then returned to grab some scalps of their own as Sri Lanka kept falling further behind whatever target they had set for themselves.
Earlier, deciding to field after winning the toss, Dhoni, one day short of his 27th birthday, made it clear that his bowlers were struggling, so it would be up to his batsmen to do a job.
Consequently, Uthappa was brought into the XI, replacing Praveen Kumar, as Dhoni made it clear that India would have batted anyway, since Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene would have batted first anyway.
Teams: India: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Pragyan Ojha, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh.
Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Chamara Kapugedera, Chamara Silva, Tilakkaratne Dilshan, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chaminda Vaas, Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan.
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