Asia Cup Final and again India lost its ground in a final match to be on the looser side while chasing an accessible total of 274 against Sri Lanka. The batting pillar of India completely failed to read a newcomer Ajanta Mendis who claimed 6 wickets to hand India a 100-run defeat. Sri Lanka in the end with Sanath Jayasuriya’s blistering 125 off just 199 balls and Mendis’s magic bowling retain its Asia Cup title.
As skipper Mahandra Singh Dhoni said they just could not read Mendis’s delivery: “It was tough to pick the delivery, in fact, batsmen were expecting something and the ball resulted something else.” Then here the question comes ‘why our batsmen tried to play without judging the ball?’ ‘Why they didn’t adopt a wait and watch approach?’
In fact, if one see the replays of every delivery in television then it is quite understandable that a wicket-to-wicket line paid off for Lanka. Sehwag was the first victim of Mendis who just completely missed out while trying to come down the ground allowing wicketkeeper Sangakara to bail his stumps. He made a valiant 66 (12*4s) in just 36 balls including the fastest Asia Cup 50 in just 26 balls.
Later, no other batsmen except MS Dhoni tried to play as Mendis laid some astonishing spells taking the wickets of in-form batsmen like Yuvraj Singh (0) and Suresh Raina (16). Being an unorthodox spinner and never-ever tested against India, the Indian batsmen certainly have to take some time and prepare against him.
The other highlight of the match was the incredible innings by Jayasuriya including 26 runs from a single over of RP Singh. Jayasuriya brought up his century in just 79 balls proving there is enough potential left in him irrespective of the age factor. Sri Lanka indeed would like to recall him into the Test squad.
Mendis was also declared as the ‘Man of the Series’ for taking the maximum number of wickets (17) in the tournament and also the one who scripted a 6-wicket haul in the Asia Cup history. Surprisingly he had just played 17 first-class matches in Sri Lanka but his performance is enough to anticipate some great ascent in his career.
As far as India is concerned, it needs to be more careful against the mysterious Mendis as India is in a three-match tour of Sri Lanka with the first test in Colombo on July 23 before playing a five-match one-day international series. However, the presence of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid will undoubtedly ease out the problem.
|
|
Comments:
