It was Sunday evening and I was able to watch the match peacefully at home without having to go anywhere. It's been a long since I watched a match in full. I used to watch cricket ball-by-ball no matter it was a one day or a test match when I was young.As Sri Lankan team started to bat first, I was hoping to watch a cracking start with Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara opening the batting. The opening pair failed as Sangakkara was miles away from crease when the Indian fielder hit the wicket directly. Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma was in fire, sending three top order batsmen of Sri Lanka cheaply back to the hut. After that, it was all Jayasuriya! What a show it was.. He started to thrash all the Indian bowlers out of the part hitting a brutal 125 off 114 balls. He included nine slapping fours and five gigantic sixes to his unbelievable knock under a serious pressure. Watching his partners depart at the other end, Jayasuriya did not stop his merry way of playing. The arrogant knock of the 39-year old Sri Lankan veteran took the team out of trouble from the disappointing start of 66-4. Tillakaratne Dilshan gave him a good support in the middle putting up a match winning 131 run partnership with Jayasuriya. Soon after Jayasuriya got himself out, Dilshan too followed him scoring 56 marking himself as the only batsman to get a reasonable score in Lankan batting lineup. Sri Lankans had to be satisfied with a total of 273 which all the Cricket commentators thought 30-40 runs short of a challenging total, considering the fact that 300 was an easy target for the teams batting second throughout this tournament.
In reply, Virender Sehwag started Indian inning with a quick threatening 60 off 36 balls. Indians were on top of the game at that time. But it did not last for long as the new spinner, Ajantha Mendis
entered into the scene. It was much expected for him to perform well in this match already having grabbed highest number of wickets in this tour. He did not disappoint his captain at all and managed to produce a stunning bowling figures of 6-13 off his 8 overs. India being well noted as the best players of spin, this performance was a very special one. They were simply clueless of the 'Magic of Mendis' and got out cheaply just like a school team playing against an international cricket team. Cricket commentators continued to say that "the new star is born" seeing the superb performances of Ajantha Mendis throughout this important tour. Indian strong top-middle order fell apart very quickly finishing up with 173 all out, giving Sri Lanka a 100-run victory in the finals of Asia Cup 2008... 8)I was really thrilled to see the success of our team after a shaky start. What a comeback it was!? Looking forward for the upcoming tournament which will be starting on 23rd July against India.
