Bitter Mendis-cine: India lose in final again
Posted on Jul 06, 2008 at 15:01 | Updated Jul 07, 2008 at 16:54
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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.
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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Total Comments: 57
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Posted By Kim Barnett
the Great Indian flop show starts !
Doni & company run to some masala advertisements., what a shame for a billion
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Posted By LVISS
The few overs Mendis bowled in IPL convinced me that he will be an unplayable bowler.I doubt whether the Aussies
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Posted By aditya
This wasn\''t a surprise! Sehwag & Yuvraj show their arrogance! Now its not a surprise even if india looses this
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Posted By Anil kumar
Dhoni & his boys played really well in all the matches,loosing in the finals is just a bad luck.we need
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Posted By Deepak
Mr John,
I completely concur with you. This is the effect of IPL. More to come down the road. No India
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