Well this was one such match that all cricket crazy fans and Aussie haters on earth would have been looking forward to. The match between Australia and Sri Lanka had to be washed off with only 32 overs of the game being able. I just cannot stop cursing myself and the rain gods for having spoiled such an enthusiasm. Australia have been beating Sri Lanka on the past five occasions with two each in the 2007 world cup and the 2003 world cup. They are the team to have been at the receiving end of Aussies in world cup taking into consideration their glory days after 1999.
India have had the taste of the Aussie ego thrice since 1999 with one in 1999 and two in the next edition in 2003 at South Africa while Pakistan have been quite lucky for not having been so. Pakistan beat Australia i the league match of the 1999 world cup by ten runs before losing to the same in the finals of the same miserably. And then in 2003, Pakistan might have missed out on meeting Australia had they not been grouped in the same pool. Pakistan was beaten badly by 82 runs in that world cup as well when the Aussies were just unstoppable.
Likewise, South Africa have had their taste four time with two each in the 1999 and 2007 editions with England having only one each in 2003 and 2007 world cups. And then, New Zealand have been losing to Australia since 2003 world cup with them being lucky in 1999 to have beaten them by 5 wickets. The match was going on at a decent pace as far as Sri Lankans were concerned with their run rate being well above four an over and Sangakkara and Samaraweera having a brilliant unbeaten 71 run partnership until rain intervened. On the other side, there was Muralitharan who could have shown his magic on home soil.
The same thing happened to the match between Sri Lanka and Australia in the 1996 world cup when Australia and West Indies decided not to tour the trouble torn country following which points had to be given to Sri Lanka for no efforts. Now, the points happened to be shared and Australia have escaped a would-be defeat at the same venue four world cups later. Nevermind, even Australia had an equal chance of winning with players like Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting, Mitchell Johnson etc. Now, the only choice left for Aussie haters is to wait and watch what happens to Australia in their pool match against Pakistan.
Showing posts with label Thilan Samaraweera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thilan Samaraweera. Show all posts
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Sri Lanka miss out another loss to India
At times, even a loss for a team that has been winning frequently is welcome, like it happened for India who lost the 2nd match to Sri Lanka after having won on 8 of the previous 10 occasions in this year alone to Sri Lanka. However, though India lost the match, India were no less when it came in displaying their caliber. Sri Lanka needs atleast 10 more such victories which may then start to haunt India the next time they face Sri Lanka. This was no one sided game unlike the ones that were played earlier between the two countries.
The last time Sri Lanka came close to winning the match against India was in the first one day international at Rajkot where despite scoring a mammoth 414 runs on the board, Sri Lanka threatened to do a South Africa when they fell just 4 runs short of crossing the target. And, in the remaining two ODIs which India won, India completely swept the Sri Lankans. The target of 240 that the Sri Lankan batsmen imposed upon the Indians were as though they were having a match practice when they did it with almost 8 overs to spare at Cuttack.
So was the case in the 4th one dayer played at Kolkata. The total in excess of 300 put up by the Sri Lankan batsmen proved in no way to trouble the Indian batsmen. And, it was no Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag who posed problems for Sri Lanka but a new comer in Virat Kohli who scored 107 runs which was also his maiden century in one day cricket. This was rather a welcome victory for the Sri Lankans though the same need not be guaranteed in their next encounter with Indians in Dhaka 5 days later. Sri Lanka can hope to be fortunate to have missed another loss to India.
Coming to the match, there was a batsman from Sri Lanka who scored a hundred and a bowler who had a 5 wicket haul. But, one thing that needs to be understood time and again is that efforts of batsmen are given more consideration than either bowlers or fielders whatsoever. That was a batting track where scalping 5 batsmen from one of the strongest sides of the world definitely needs a lot of applause. But, eventually, it would be Samaraweera who walks away with the man of the match award for his unbeaten 105. 3 of his five wickets contained top three batsmen.
The last time Sri Lanka came close to winning the match against India was in the first one day international at Rajkot where despite scoring a mammoth 414 runs on the board, Sri Lanka threatened to do a South Africa when they fell just 4 runs short of crossing the target. And, in the remaining two ODIs which India won, India completely swept the Sri Lankans. The target of 240 that the Sri Lankan batsmen imposed upon the Indians were as though they were having a match practice when they did it with almost 8 overs to spare at Cuttack.
So was the case in the 4th one dayer played at Kolkata. The total in excess of 300 put up by the Sri Lankan batsmen proved in no way to trouble the Indian batsmen. And, it was no Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag who posed problems for Sri Lanka but a new comer in Virat Kohli who scored 107 runs which was also his maiden century in one day cricket. This was rather a welcome victory for the Sri Lankans though the same need not be guaranteed in their next encounter with Indians in Dhaka 5 days later. Sri Lanka can hope to be fortunate to have missed another loss to India.
Coming to the match, there was a batsman from Sri Lanka who scored a hundred and a bowler who had a 5 wicket haul. But, one thing that needs to be understood time and again is that efforts of batsmen are given more consideration than either bowlers or fielders whatsoever. That was a batting track where scalping 5 batsmen from one of the strongest sides of the world definitely needs a lot of applause. But, eventually, it would be Samaraweera who walks away with the man of the match award for his unbeaten 105. 3 of his five wickets contained top three batsmen.
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