KARACHI, July 7: Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene hailed his team for retaining the Asia Cup title in style after the islanders outclassed India in the final at the National Stadium here on Sunday night (also partly reported in Monday’s edition).
Jayawardene stressed the final of the region’s ninth edition was not a two-man show since everyone in the side contributed to the 100-run victory that was achieved on the back of sterling performances from Sanath Jayasuriya and Ajantha Mendis, two men of different age groups.
“I just think everyone contributed to the win; we are just happy to have won the title and everybody in the team now wants to enjoy it for a few days,” Jayawardene told a press conference after Sri Lanka had equalled India’s record of four Asia Cup titles.
“But I must praise the manner in which Sanath [Jayasuriya] took on the responsibility after we lost those early wickets. I though he batted superbly in what was one of the finest innings we have seen from the man,” a happy Sri Lankan captain expressed.
He added that 39-year-old Jayasuriya’s magnificent knock of 125 allowed Sri Lanka to post a competitive total.
“We always knew it is different chasing 300 in a final because of the charged atmosphere. The pressure is always there till the end. But Sanath’s brilliant knock ensured that we get a decent total.”
Jayawardene claimed the decision to bring on Mendis, the 23-year-old unorthodox slow bowler who finished with astounding figures of six for 13 in eight overs, in the 10th over, became necessary after the pace bowlers had all been hit around by Virender Sehwag.
“We had run out of options when Sehwag was striking those boundaries. At that stage I knew the ball was a bit too new for Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan]. So we opted to bring in Mendis since he bowls a wicket-to-wicket line.
“The way he took the pressure in his first final was fantastic. Ajantha was just too brilliant with the ball in his hand. He is a confident young bowler, but he’ll have to work hard to be recognised as a consistent match-winner in international cricket. However, it is good for us to have found support for Murali who had done all the hard work alone for so long,” Jayawardene pointed out.
The Sri Lankan captain said the decision not to play Mendis, who finished the tournament with 17 wickets in five matches, in the Super Four match against India last week was taken not only because they wanted to give him rest, but also because they didn’t want the Indians to have a close look at him.
“In hindsight people may say it was a tactical ploy. But whatever it was, it worked wonders for us tonight.”
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, meanwhile, was gracious in defeat.
Dhoni admitted his batsmen had no ideas as they were thoroughly flummoxed by the mysteries and guile of the Mendis after India were bowled for 173 inside 40 overs.
“Frankly speaking, our batsmen simply didn’t pick his deliveries. Obviously, you can’t blame the batsmen as they went to play for something else and this amazing fellow bowled something else. We just couldn’t pick him up,” Dhoni told reporters.Dhoni claimed it was extremely tough batting against a bowler who they never had encountered before.
“Our batsmen were facing him for the first time and I think Mendis bowled very well. We were clueless against him. The moment he came in to bowl, things started to go wrong for us.”
Dhoni also admitted that India chose to play an extra batsman in Robin Uthappa because of the Mendis factor.
“Overall in hindsight I think we fielded the best bowling line-up, and I thought they did their job. In our view, 274 was a decent target to chase with seven specialist batsmen playing. But it was a gamble that didn’t come off tonight because of the Mendis factor,” he remarked.
“Although we had seen his videos but unless, and until, you have played a bowler of such rarity it is a very difficult proposition as we found out later.”
The Indian captain further said his team had tried to avoid the pressure of playing in a final and treat it like any other game.
“But the truth is Mendis bowled superbly and came up with some really good variations. You must realise that.”
Dhoni said the positives for India in the two-week tournament — that was hosted by Pakistan for the first time — were that they had a young side which did well to reach the final.
“In the end, we may have lost but I don’t think we played too badly. It might seem we played badly but everyone would agree that he [Mendis] was brilliant.”
Scoreboard
SRI LANKA:
S.T. Jayasuriya c I. Sharma b Sehwag 125
K.C. Sangakkara run out 4
M. Jayawardene c R. Sharma b I. Sharma 11
C.K. Kapugedera c Raina b I. Sharma 5
L.P.C. Silva b I. Sharma 0
T.M. Dilshan c Dhoni b Pathan 56
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas b R.P. Singh 19
K.M.D.N. Kulasekara not out 29
T. Thushara lbw b R.P. Singh 5
B.A.W. Mendis b R.P. Singh 8
M. Muralitharan c Dhoni b Pathan 2
EXTRAS (LB-8, W-1) 9
TOTAL (all out, 49.5 overs) 273
FALL OF WKTS: 1-11, 2-34, 3-66, 4-66, 5-197, 6-213, 7-236, 8-256, 9-264.
BOWLING: R.P. Singh 9-1-67-3 (1w); I. Sharma 10-1-52-3; Pathan 9.5-0-67-2; Ojha 10-1-38-0; Sehwag 8-0-30-1; R.G. Sharma 3-0-11-0.
INDIA:
G. Gambhir c Dilshan b Vaas 6
V. Sehwag st Sangakkara b Mendis 60
S.K. Raina b Mendis 16
Yuvraj Singh b Mendis 0
M.S. Dhoni c Sangakkara b Vaas 49
R.G. Sharma lbw b Mendis 3
R.V. Uthappa lbw b Muralitharan 20
I.K. Pathan c Jayawardene b Mendis 2
R.P. Singh b Mendis 0
P.P. Ojha not out 6
I. Sharma b Kulasekara 8
EXTRAS (B-2, W-1) 3
TOTAL (all out, 39.3 overs) 173
FALL OF WKTS: 1-36, 2-76, 3-76, 4-93, 5-97, 6-135, 7-154, 8-154, 9-160.
BOWLING: Vaas 9-0-55-2; Kulasekara 6.3-0-26-1; Thushara 8-0-51-0 (1w); Mendis 8-1-13-6; Muralitharan 8-0-26-1.
RESULT: Sri Lanka won by 100 runs.
UMPIRES: S.J.A. Taufel (Australia) and A.L. Hill (New Zealand).
TV UMPIRE: Zameer Haider (Pakistan).
MATCH REFEREE: A.G. Hurst (Australia).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Ajantha Mendis.
MAN-OF-THE-TOURNAMENT: Ajantha Mendis.