MUMBAI: India marched to their first World Cup triumph in 28 years with captain MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir propelling them to a memorable six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in a see-saw finale here at the Wankhede stadium on Saturday night.
Fireworks lit up the Mumbai sky as Dhoni hit Nuwan Kulasekera for a monstrous six to complete an emphatic victory that once seemed like an uphill task after Sri Lanka, riding on a magnificent ton from Mahela Jayawardene, scored 274-6 and then pacer Lasith Malinga landed a couple of early blows. India made 277-4 with 10 balls to spare.
When Jayawardene raised the bar by hitting what seemed like a match-winning hundred, India needed at least one of their batsmen to respond with a similarly effective knock to win the all-Asian final.
And when their highly-rated openers — Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag — fell cheaply the home team needed nothing less than a heroic effort. Gambhir accepted the challenge and smashed a vital 97 that shepherded India to a stunning triumph, leaving a billion Indians go wild with celebration. The left-handed opener and Dhoni enabled India to lift themselves from 31-2 and chase down what seemed like a gigantic target.
Dhoni played a captain’s knock as he battled cramps and kept hitting the much-needed boundaries to lead India to their first World Cup title since 1983. His unbeaten 91 came off just 79 balls and included eight boundaries and two sixes.
Though he had been out of form, Dhoni promoted himself and came in at 114-3 in the 22nd over to swing the balance in India’s favour. Gambhir anchored the Indian innings for 40 overs and featured in two precious partnerships — 83 off 93 balls with Virat Kohli (35) and 109 off 188 balls with Dhoni.
It was the third-wicket stand between Gambhir and Kohli that dealt a fatal blow on the Sri Lankans, whose bowling went from bad to worse. Malinga began well by scalping Sehwag and Tendulkar early but when his team needed the fiery pacer to spit some venom, he went wayward and bowled juicy full tosses. The duo of Kulasekera (0-64) and Thisara Perera (1-55) appeared toothless while Sri Lanka’s otherwise potent spin attack was also unable to bring their team back into the match.
In what was his last international match for Sri Lanka, Muttiah Muralitharan (0-39) went wicketless. India’s run-chase got off to a poor start with Sehwag falling off the second ball caught plumb in front of the wicket by Malinga.
Tendulkar, looking for his 100th international ton in front of his home crowd, hit two sweetly-timed boundaries before becoming Malinga’s second victim. Barring a handful of Sri Lanka supporters, the entire crowd went silent as he edged an outswinger and Sangakkara took a diving catch.
India were in a dire need of a partnership and it was Gambhir and Kohli that brought them back in the game. Just when India were coming at par with their rivals, Tillakaratne Dilshan caught a stunning catch off his own bowling to dismiss Kohli. But Gambhir and Dhoni took them within striking distance to a well-deserved victory before Yuvraj Singh (21 not out) finished the job with his skipper.
Earlier, Jayawardene hit an unbeaten 88-ball 103 to guide the 1996 champions to 274-6. The former Sri Lanka captain, who began the World Cup with 100 against Canada in Hambantota, saved his best when it mattered the most as he first took Sri Lanka out of trouble with his 14th One-day International ton. He became the sixth man to hit a century in a World Cup final.
Sri Lanka’s innings revolved around Jayawardene. The maestro was in sublime form as he featured in all three major partnerships of the innings. He came to the crease with Sri Lanka gasping for air at 60-2 in the 17th over after India took the upper hand thanks to five superb overs from Zaheer Khan that gave away just six runs.
The former captain helped Sri Lanka finish their innings in a perfect manner with 63 runs coming off the last five overs. Zaheer, who gave away just six runs from his first five overs, finished with 2-60 from 10. In his last two overs, the left-armer gave away 35 runs.
Zaheer began the match with three maiden overs at a trot as the Sri Lankans made a cautious start after winning electing to bat first. He got India the breakthrough off the first ball of his fourth over which nipped away forcing Upul Tharanga to edge it to first slip where Sehwag took a brilliant catch.
Dilshan then added 48 off 62 balls with his Sangakkara but just when he was getting ready to break free, the big-hitting opener got a bit of his glove on an Harbhajan delivery that went on to hit the stumps. Dilshan’s 33 came off 49 balls and included three boundaries.
It was now up to Sri Lanka’s most experienced batters — Jayawardene and Sangakkara — to provide their team with a platform for a big total. As usual, the duo didn’t disappoint and put up a fourth-wicket stand of 62 off 68 balls to take the islanders to 122-3 in the 28th over.
But Sangakkara fell trying to cut Yuvraj (2-49) only to edge it to Dhoni. Sangakkara’s 67-ball 48 included five hits to the fence.
Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera kept the scoreboard ticking with a 57-run partnership as Sri Lanka saved their wickets for an assault in the death overs. But two wickets in quick succession brought India back into the match. Yuvraj struck first, getting rid of Samaraweera for 21. Yuvraj’s appeal for an lbw was turned down by Simon Taufel but replays concluded that it was out.
In the very next over, Chamara Kapugedera (1) was deceived by a slower one from Zaheer and was caught comfortably by Raina at short extra cover. His dismissal left Sri Lanka at 182-5 in 39.5 overs. But Jayawardene, together with Nuwan Kulasekara, made it sure that Sri Lanka will post an imposing total as the duo added 66 of just 49 balls before Kulasekara got run out. Perera then hit three fours and a last-ball six off Zaheer in a 9-ball cameo that fetched him 22 to take Sri Lanka to 274-6 in 50 overs.
The finale got underway after a bizarre incident when match referee Jeff Crow asked for a re-toss following some confusion over the call made by Sangakkara. The Sri Lanka skipper called ‘heads’ and won the toss but MS Dhoni thought he had called ‘tails’. Crowe, who was involved in the farcical end to the 2007 World Cup final, got confused and went for a re-toss which was won by Sangakkara.
Kulasekara replaced injured allrounder Angelo Mathews while Perera, Kapugedera and Randiv were also inducted in Sri Lanka’s playing eleven. India replaced injured pacer Ashish Nehra with S Sreesanth. Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Indian counterpart Pratibha Patil were among the dignitaries who were present at Wankhede. Dhoni was named the man-of-the-final while Yuvraj was adjudged as the man-of-the-series.
No comments:
Post a Comment