The 18-year old jinx of not taking home a World title was finally broken after Sri Lanka lifted the ICC World Twenty20 2014 title defeating India by six wickets in the final at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
The victory came riding on Kumar Sangakkara’s last Twenty20 half-century (52*) which set the perfect send-off tone for him and another Lankan legend, Mahela Jayawardene.
The win was for the second major title in last three months for the islanders. Earlier they took home the Asia Cup defeating Pakistan. This also accomplished Sri Lanka’s aim to end the three months stay in Bangladesh on a winning note.
For MS Dhoni this was an opportunity lost of becoming the first Indian captain having four major title beside his name having won the ICC World Tweny20 2007, ICC World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013.
India’s only defeat in the tournament proved costly as they only managed a below par 130 courtesy of some clever death bowling from the Sri Lankans.
The Indian innings had two clear aspects – Kohli and the rest of the team. It was as if Kohli was batting on a completely different wicket from the rest. India’s 130 in 20 overs were divided into Kohli’s 77 off 58 balls and the rest 47 off 62 balls.
Sri Lanka didn’t mind the singles and bowled to a single plan – block hole outside of the wicket and Lasith Malinga’s incredible last over restricted India to the modest total. They were also sharp on the field though they were lucky not be hurt back by Malinga’s expensive drop of Virat Kohli on 11 at mid-wicket.
India had their run machine Kohli routing the bowlers, but it was too long and too many balls eaten by his partners at the other end. There were only five overs that leaked more than 10 runs and on majority of the occasion it was Kohli on strike. The right-handed batsman also had two 50 runs partnerships – 60 runs for the second wicket with Rohit Sharma and 55 runs for the third wicket with Yuvraj Singh.
Losing Ajinkya Rahane in the second over with only four runs on the scorecard was indeed a pull back for India but not for Kohli. The innings run rate was not following Kohli as it was very low in the context of the game. They were crawling at 95 for 2 before too much cautiousness from Yuvraj Singh, who made only 11 from 21 balls, jeopardized the final onslaught. A very much frustrated Kohli only watched from the non-striker’s end as first Yuvraj and then Dhoni failed to connect to the outside yorkers.
Sri Lanka gave away only 35 runs in the last 30 balls which also included two wickets, Yuvraj’s in the 19th and Kohli’s run out in the last ball of the 20th over.
Sri Lanka did had a early hiccup losing Kusal Perera early in their chase, but a 36-run stand between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Jayawardene steadied the cruise against a bite less Indian attack.
Dilshan’s dismissal on 18 saw the dependant duo – Mahela and Sangakkara – join in the middle and the latter couldn’t have asked for a better ending to his career. He remained 52 not out off 35 balls and the innings included six fours and a six. Thisara Perera got the winning runs hitting a six off Ashwin in the 18th over. Parera was unbeaten with 23 off 14 which included three sixes.