By Jamie Alter
India began strongly through Zaheer Khan’s three consecutive maidens and an early wicket in the first seven overs, but Sri Lanka built cleverly throughout the innings as Jayawardene started the recovery and then gave it some thrust at the end by helping loot 63 off the batting Powerplay.
Published: Apr 02, 2011, 06:51 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 02, 2011, 06:51 PM (IST)
Mahela Jayawardena scored a brilliant 103
By Jamie Alter
Mumbai: Apr 2, 2011
After a rather subdued run since his first innings of the tournament, Sri Lanka’s most experienced batsman, Mahela Jayawardene, chose the final to roar. India began strongly through Zaheer Khan’s three consecutive maidens and an early wicket in the first seven overs, but Sri Lanka built cleverly throughout the innings as Jayawardene started the recovery and then gave it some thrust at the end by helping loot 63 off the batting Powerplay.
Playing the lead role in three handy partnerships, Jayawardene raced to an excellent century which has set India a target of 275 to clinch their first World Cup in 28 years. After conceding six runs from his first five overs, a hapless Zaheer leaked 54 from his remaining five and that told a damning story for India.
The end of Sri Lanka’s innings was in stark contrast to the beginning. Zaheer hit a perfect length early on, keeping the ball just far enough away from the batsmen to cut out the drive. After 18 scoreless deliveries, he got Upul Tharanga to feel for one which pitched and nipped away and Virender Sehwag held on at slip. India were also brilliantly in the field, with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina repeatedly diving to save runs; four boundaries were saved inside the first ten overs thanks to the pair’s thrifty work in the ring.
Zaheer’s opening was unrelenting, giving away only six runs in five overs, but Sreesanth’s second spell allowed Kumar Sangakkara to counter-attack. With a series of punchy drives down the ground and through covers, Sangakkara hit Sreesanth out of the attack and forced the introduction of spin with Sri Lanka at 56 for one after 14 overs.
Tillakaratne Dilshan’s wicket, bowled around the legs, brought together the old firm of Sangakkara and Jayawardene when the innings had only yielded 60 from the first 14.3 overs. Sangakkara played the steadying hand, but the batsman who turned it around for Sri Lanka was Jayawardene. He got his innings going with two languid boundaries between point and where a slip could have been placed, and that was a sign of things to come. The slow pitch wasn’t conducive to driving but Jayawardene displayed expert ability in tackling these conditions, using his agile wrists to steer and glance the ball behind the stumps.
Sangakkara fell on 48, cutting a wide ball from Yuvraj into Mahendra Sa Dhoni’s gloves, to end a stand of 62 with Jayawardene. Another handy stand followed between Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera.
The most impressive aspect of Jayawardene’s innings was the manner in which he dismantled the slow bowlers, especially Yuvraj and Harbhajan. Clever dabs, a few late cuts, some cheeky sweeps and paddles were all on view as Dhoni was left to resort to Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli as well as bowling Sreesanth four times before 34 overs were up. Jayawardene was his usual deft self: cutting, nudging and pushing into the gaps with immaculate timing.
Yuvraj returned for a second spell and shifted Samaraweera for 21, given out by a referral when attempting to sweep, and Zaheer came back to fox Chamara Kapugedera with a lovely slower ball.
If India hoped it would bring respite they had another thing coming, for Nuwan Kulasekara proved a capable foil for a silken Jayawardene. Sri Lanka brought up their 200 in the 44th over and it was then that Jayawardene and Kulasekara turned it on.
The duo mixed aggression with caution aptly as they penalised poor bowling with excellent shots all around the wicket. Jayawardene collected three boundaries through the off side, again relying on those magical wrists, and Kulasekara pulled past short fine-leg as the score raced to 231 after 47 overs. Zaheer was tonked for six by Kulasekara, after which Jayawardene rounded off a costly over with exquisite off-side boundaries, the second of which raised his century off 84 balls. Zaheer’s final over cost 18 as Tissara Perera swung merrily and Sri Lanka had dramatically turned the momentum their way.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 274 for 6 (Mahela Jayawardene 103*, Kumar Sangakkara 48, Tillakaratne Dilshan 33, Nuwan Kulasekara 32; Yuvraj Singh 2 for 49, Zaheer Khan 2 for 60) vs India.
(Jamie Alter is a freelance cricket writer, having worked at ESPNcricinfo and All Sports Magazine. His first book, The History of World Cup Cricket, is out now. His twitter feed is @jamie_alter)
Pictures © Getty Images
