Weather rains on Sri Lanka’s parade

Lily

B.R
Staff member
Colombo: According to India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, it was rain that dashed his team’s hopes of winning the Twenty20World Cup, and Sri Lanka could claim the same thing after Sunday’s final defeat to West Indies.

India suffered against Australia when, after batting first, the heavens opened between the innings to dampen the outfield and make it difficult for the spinners to grip the ball. The Aussies subsequently romped to victory.

Sri Lanka too were troubled by rain against West Indies, as it started to drizzle early in their innings after the Caribbean side had batted. Though rain did not stop play, it forced Sri Lanka to keep an eye on the Duckworth/Lewis par score — and as they were behind they started to play a few risky shots.

Captain Mahela Jayawardene played an unwarranted shot in a bid to accelerate the run-rate just in case there was a stoppage due to rain and got out. In the end, his dismissal turned out to be crucial.

Jayawardene said that fear of rain did affect him. “You can’t say whether it is going to rain or not. When it started to drizzle, we were about 20 runs short [of D/L par] at that point,” he said. “You need to get closer to the target and, as you get closer, it means you are putting pressure on the West Indies as well. At that point after 10 to 11 overs we needed some momentum. Those are chances that you need to take. They took their chances, which paid off.

“We had to take our chances as well, but it didn’t work for us. They handled the situations better than us.”

Talking about his dismissal and that of Angelo Mathews, both to risky shots, Jayawardene said: “The reverse sweep worked for me in the last game. You just take options — if it pays off, it pays off.

“We were finding it difficult to hit straight because the wicket was very slow and they weren’t giving us much pace. Hitting into those long boundaries, you are taking a chance. Angie [Mathews] obviously wanted to accelerate while I was there, but I don’t think that’s where we lost the game. It’s about keeping momentum in a big game and controlling the situations, which we did not.”

Meanwhile, West Indies skipper Darren Sammy said that some good advice from coach Ottis Gibson was crucial in the final outcome. “Before the start, he told us we are all climbing to the top of a mountain and that’s where the prize is. We’ve got to go and take it — and we did it.”
 
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