Colombo: Sri Lanka’s World Twenty20 final defeat by West Indies on Sunday was a disappointment for the whole nation, with many now convinced they will never again win a World Cup.
The hosts had a great chance of victory when they had tied West Indies down to 32 for two after 10n overs, even dismissing dangerman Chris Gayle along the way, yet they lost the match by 36 runs.
A shattered Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene had no answers. “As a team, I think we made a good effort, but it wasn’t good enough. Twenty20 is a format that sees things change in two or three overs. We couldn’t control a few things out there,” he said.
“Marlon Samuels took the game away from us. Even then we should have chased that score, but we lost wickets regularly while chasing and then the going got tough. It is very disheartening. It was a packed house and we are disappointed we couldn’t give a good game.”
Jayawardene had a tough time defending strike bowler Lasith Malinga, who was thrashed for 54 runs in four overs. “We had controlled things well for 12 overs, up until that point when Malinga bowled just that one over. They were going for their shots and that’s when I gave my No 1 bowler the ball hoping to get a wicket,” he said.
“But they batted well. Unfortunately Lasith couldn’t bowl those two overs well. That’s cricket. It’s not something that Lasith does purposely, in fact Marlon wasn’t playing Lasith well and that’s the reason why I gave him the ball.”
Regarding his team’s batting failure, Jayawardene said: “The wicket was very slow. We knew that a total of 137 wasn’t a bad run chase on this wicket, but we had to start well against the bowling attack, especially with the spinners they had. We didn’t start well and failed to gain momentum, so that paved the way for them to keep attacking us and take control of the game.”
Jayawardene also feels that the way they finished their bowling and fielding display must have destroyed the hopes of the batsmen. “With the manner in which we finished our innings with the ball, probably that momentum crept into our batting as well. We just did not look aggressive enough on the run chase, so a few mistakes cost us the match,” he said.
“We started off in a good mental state and in the middle overs there was some pressure that we failed to handle well — we gave away 20 or 30 runs more.
“It was all good until the 12th over. There was a half chance we couldn’t take and from thereon they played well. Ajantha Mendis then came and bowled well and got us those two wickets. I think those extra runs made the difference, maybe something around 110 was a good total in this game and we could have had our chances had we done that.”
The hosts had a great chance of victory when they had tied West Indies down to 32 for two after 10n overs, even dismissing dangerman Chris Gayle along the way, yet they lost the match by 36 runs.
A shattered Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene had no answers. “As a team, I think we made a good effort, but it wasn’t good enough. Twenty20 is a format that sees things change in two or three overs. We couldn’t control a few things out there,” he said.
“Marlon Samuels took the game away from us. Even then we should have chased that score, but we lost wickets regularly while chasing and then the going got tough. It is very disheartening. It was a packed house and we are disappointed we couldn’t give a good game.”
Jayawardene had a tough time defending strike bowler Lasith Malinga, who was thrashed for 54 runs in four overs. “We had controlled things well for 12 overs, up until that point when Malinga bowled just that one over. They were going for their shots and that’s when I gave my No 1 bowler the ball hoping to get a wicket,” he said.
“But they batted well. Unfortunately Lasith couldn’t bowl those two overs well. That’s cricket. It’s not something that Lasith does purposely, in fact Marlon wasn’t playing Lasith well and that’s the reason why I gave him the ball.”
Regarding his team’s batting failure, Jayawardene said: “The wicket was very slow. We knew that a total of 137 wasn’t a bad run chase on this wicket, but we had to start well against the bowling attack, especially with the spinners they had. We didn’t start well and failed to gain momentum, so that paved the way for them to keep attacking us and take control of the game.”
Jayawardene also feels that the way they finished their bowling and fielding display must have destroyed the hopes of the batsmen. “With the manner in which we finished our innings with the ball, probably that momentum crept into our batting as well. We just did not look aggressive enough on the run chase, so a few mistakes cost us the match,” he said.
“We started off in a good mental state and in the middle overs there was some pressure that we failed to handle well — we gave away 20 or 30 runs more.
“It was all good until the 12th over. There was a half chance we couldn’t take and from thereon they played well. Ajantha Mendis then came and bowled well and got us those two wickets. I think those extra runs made the difference, maybe something around 110 was a good total in this game and we could have had our chances had we done that.”
![[JUGRAJ SINGH]](https://www.unp.me/data/avatars/s/123/123038.jpg?1591210006){kind=avatar}
