COLOMBO, Sept 26: Sri Lankan capital woke Thursday morning to an atmosphere of “shock, disbelief and anger” in the wake of South Africa’s humiliating capitulation to India in the Champions Trophy semifinal Wednesday night.

Despite the widespread popularity of India’s win, the questions surrounding South Africa’s seemingly feeble slide from complete domination to subservience.

“Never trust the South Africans to win a crunch game,” leading Sri Lankan cricket writer Sa’adi Thawfeeq wrote in Daily News. “Yesterday they lived up to their reputation as chokers on the big occasion...”

Thawfeeq was unapologetic on Thursday morning. “It was a disgrace,” he said.

“The irony, of course, is that if Pakistan or another Asian team had lost like that, everybody would have shouted ‘match-fixing’ and it would have been hard to argue. What the hell happened? What were they thinking,” Thawfeeq demanded of South African journalists.—PPI