Sri Lanka’s World Cup Loss A Comedy of Errors
Posted on April 4th, 2011
Cricket Talk By Doosra Kumar!
April 2nd 2011
It seems a pity to have to reflect in retrospect after Sri Lanka’s World Cup loss at Mumbai that it was probably a comedy of errors involving the red handed Kumar Sangakkara as well as the Sri Lankan selectors whose bungling relative to captaincy and the final team selection respectively that cost Sri Lanka the ignominious loss .
Perhaps messers Aravinda de Silva and DS de Silva should re think their strategies in decision making and be held accountavle for some of the apathetic choices of the final team selection and if unfit to continue in their capacity being so egotistical rather than prudent in many of their decisions according to some close observers removed to pave the way for more astute cricketing minds like Arjuna Ranatunga perhaps as the future for Sri Lankan cricket surely seems bleak if the leadership of the official body Sri Lankan Cricket continues to be handled by incompetent self centred idealogues!
This surely was a Final which seemed positively Sri Lanka’s to claim had the choice of team selection favoured a balanced team of performers rather than certain disabled players as seen fit while others were pre-empted where the full compliment of deserving players never made the final team. The end result proved costly for Sri Lanka and asserted beyond a doubt that Championships are not won by paying homage to indisposed legends or the omission of brilliant players whose recent performance stats and averages alone screamed for their inclusion but overlooked to accommodate the wrong choices?
So the toss was won, the target for the opposition was 275 but what the hell were the likes of Kapugedera and Kulasekera doing in the side which left out Ajantha Mendis who averaged 3 runs an over for all the games he played in and why werent Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando not considered for a playing surface which could well have proved to be a killing field for their type of bowling and given the state of unfitness Muttiah Muralidaran was in surely Rangana Herath was a better choice but overlooked for sentimental reasons favouring Murali?? A joke as this was the World Cup not a walk in the park! and those who called the shots went their merry way towards contributing to the defeat which could have in all probabilities been avoided had wiser choices been made with all due respect to Murali!
Kumar Sangakkara should realistically rue the manner he handled the game as skipper and his lates rhetoric that ” rather than not being able to give Muttiah Muralitharan the perfect send-off in what was his final international appearance for Sri Lanka and that the team would “miss him terribly.” he should have been more emphatic that Sri Lanka were beaten by six wickets in the World Cup final through his incompetence, inability to make wise bowling choices or set an attacking field towards grabbing India by the jugular when both Virender Shewag and Sachin Tendulkar the greatest threats and were dismissed cheaply. But of course Sangakkara is not going to agree with this and will find all the excuses to justify his actions which were pretty transparent towards the loss in the eyes of many some of them pretty incenced that this game was snuffed out for Sri Lanka when the win was in all likelihood there for the taking ! Certainly Murali, on one of his rare off days, went wicketless in eight overs and conceded 39 runs but could have well sat out the game on the basis of his fitness alone with the accolades deserving for his glorious career provided after Sri Lanka beat India as it illustrated the felt need for leaving out even the greatest spinner of all time if he was not fully fit to play which could have made the difference between winning and losing and it sure looked like that today at Mumbai. And to make matters worse it was a missed chance by Kulasekera (no excuses as the catch could have been taken, this was the highest level of competition !) which let Gautam Gambhir off the hook early in his innings that probably paved the way for India’s win as they gained momentum with Gambhir coasting to 95 and Sangakkara was seen hanging his head in despair as the game progressed rather than motivating a team desperately in need of it!Thes criticisms are regrettable albeit said with intent towards how such a scenario might never be repeated while also whistfully reflecting on how close Sri Lanka came towards a second World Cup Win leaving aside the loss to Australia in the last World Cup where Sri Lanka at least put up a hectic fight despite the end result !
April 3rd, 2011 at 5:32 am
Cannot agree more.
One cannot just brush aside this defeat saying this is just a game. That is cowardly.
¨Murali sending off” would have been possible if the opponent team were Kenya or Zimbabwe ( with due respect to those teams).
Playing a one legged creature was an insult to India and full credit to them, they avoided game of cricket to be seen as a sub continental political joke.
To make things worse Sangakkara went on to insult our hardworking cricketers like Malinga and Dilshan by telling the world even 350 runs could not have been sufficient. The truth was even 250 would have been enough if Dilhara and Medis played instead of Kulasekara and Murali.
Our team looked weak against Pakistan and weaker against India not because these teams were stronger ( mind you England drew with India and New Zealand beat Pakistan) but because our bowler selection was weak. One cannot judge everything from final scorecard one must follow the match.
Sangakkara correctly replaced Kulasekara initially by Perera but brought back him after fall of fist wicket. That is unforgivably idiotic because rather than increasing pressure , he decreased it, just to get over Kulasekaraś overs.
Kulasekara was a hinderer to Sri Lanak team for a long time now. Why they put him the squad is also a joke. There are many other faster and threatening bowlers in Sri Lanka.
There is no point trying to be diplomatic after insulting fans. We sacrificed our heroes again. We are silent about shooting in Pakistan.
We should not be silent to shooting down millions of cricket lovers, under the banner of ending off party for Murali
April 3rd, 2011 at 9:37 am
This loss was surely Kumar Sangakkara’s major responsibility together with a few lame duck decisions at selection level and the top of the tree!…Interference, nepotism, corruption and self centred egotism rife in the SLCB some media reports have said with no compunctions!! so is there more than a Freudian slip here?
Everything was on the cards for a Sri Lankan win had the correct choice of team selection been applied and the fierce motivation and wise decision making as well as proper field setting needed at captaincy level.The target a daunting 275 under lights but no Ajantha Mendis and Chaminda Vaas as predominant choices where even the inclusion of Dilhara Fernando and Rangana Herath may have proved fortuitous in the end as Murali was never going to be a factor with his disability and the inclusions of Kapugedera and Kulasekera ( despite his cameo) perplexing where Suraj Randive did not live upto expectations as he appeared to be shell shocked in front of the massive bi partisan Mumbai crowd!There was redemption toiwards the inclusion of Thisara Perera who consolidated the final tally with his little cameo and bowled line and length well enough.Surely Kumar Sangakkara is no motivator of the team and tends to hang his head and give up the struggle, dragging down the team with him but has his usual glib tongue and always ends up praising the winning captain in his ‘cosmopolitan’ accent but “chappie there are no excuses this time, you simply blew it!”. He needs continuous replays of Shahid Afridi towards replenishing his skills in the motivation department and it was glaringly visible that at times in his enthusiasm to appeal for a catch or an LBW he misses the ball which streaks down to the bounday where had he caught it there were stumping chances quite visible. The dismissals of Shewag and Tendulkar early whould have sparked off a killer instinct to strangle the Indians where to the contrary he relieved a menacing and fiery Malinga who had just removed two of the best and ends up making ridiculous bowling changes which further promoted the loss. By the time Malinga returned he has lost his momentum the batsmen have dug themselves in, one missed early by Kulasekera, the runs start to leak to all corners of the ground and bye bye world cup!
April 3rd, 2011 at 11:16 am
Armchair critics as usual come out of the wood work hell bent on finding a scape goat.
Let’s face it. India played good cricket on the day and won, give them credit and give the Lankan players credit too for playing good cricket all through the tournament. On the day India was better.
India fielding in the first 10 overs saved circa 30-40 runs. Mahela innings was a classic, think i saw only one stroke hit in “anger”.
Malinga was brilliant removing Shewag & Sachin. Dhoni and Gambhir took the game away from SL in a controlled manner. Indians are used to Murali by now and also Mendis.
I believe Sanga is one of the best captains around perhaps only second to Andrew Strauss.
It’s an insult to Sanga to be compared to the likes Shahid Afridi a renown cheat (ball biting, pitch pirouette)
April 3rd, 2011 at 2:20 pm
It was indeed sad to watch how we gave up hopes. I never saw Sangakkara giving much needed morale booster to the bowlers. mahela batted well to get his century and was biting his fingers when indian batsmen hitting the ball all over. Where was the leadership when it was really needed when Dhoni and Gauthem batting well. Sadly we missed good leadership.
With due respect to Aravinda for his great contribution in cricket as a player, it appeared that he was not a good administrator nor a selector including the so called chairman D S de Silva who was lucky to play for Sri lanka when there were so many other good players durig that time, in place of him.
To my knowledge , I know There are much better experts/administrators to hold these vital positions in Sri lanka to select the best to play the game at this level. It was pathetic selection for the final game that all of us never expected.
I still feel that Sanath Jayasooriya with his good leadership may have done a better job with his bowling even if he failed in batting. Secondly, I do not know why they dropped Ajantha ad Rangana Herath who were heady bowlers right throughout the series, than Kulasekera and Randiv.
It is my opinion that its time to take action soon to appoint suitable adminstrators/selectors in the interest of cricket in Sri lanka, so that we will have a well balanced team in the future.
April 3rd, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Very Very good article, Kuma.
Was RAW involoved in our loss or the Bookies?
Malinga (and Dilshan), I can understand your frustation for working under Sanga and Aravinda. Both of you (plus Mahela) gave 100% but Sanga is not a born Leader. I know your efforts are in vain. Aravinda is dumb, he can only bat, not impatial cricket admiinstration.
Sanga’s field setting was hopeless.
Sanath Jayasuriya is now 40. Age is imaterial if you are a good player. Sanath is still the Best Player in Sri Lanka. He is the best cricketer Sri Lanka has ever produced. He will flourish in the UK series, Ihope. Aravinda and Sanga chucked him out due to jealousy. Sachin Tendulkar chucked him out from IPL due to jealousy and fear. The Government chuked him out from Matara Organisation because Sanath is not corrupt like other Government Ministers and MPs. Sri Lanka will never win the World Cup under Sanga, Aravinda.
Why did they bring in Kapugedera, Vaas, Randima and Kulasekera at the very last moment only God knows. Chamara Silva batted well against New Zealand in the semi final. Why did they drop Ajantha Mendis I do not know.
Why did they not put Perera ahead of Kulasekera I do not know.
Samaraweera cannot bat in One Day’s. He must be considered for One Day’s only.
Sanga dropped Dhoni on first ball but covered it up tactically. He missed a run out too.
Duleep Mendis must be brought back. Good man is he. Dilshan should be named as Captian with Lalsith Malinda being the Vice Captain. Sanath must be brought back to the team.
Murali is not God. He should not be allowed to run Sri Lanka Cricket for the next 40 years.
Aravinda must be gone from Cricket adminstration for good.
Dandeniya brothers must be sacked if they were corrupt with tickets and other things.
Building two new stadiums was a waste of funds when we have so many cricket stadiums in Sri Lanka. What about building proper latrines for our people with that money?
April 3rd, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Sangakkara got into the team using family connections after getting rid of Little Kalu who was a brillant wicket keeper and with Sanath they were the world’s best opening pair. This brought forth the down fall of Sri Lanka (after 1996 victory)
Sangakkara has a big mouth, knows how to speak to the camera very well, but fumbles behind the wickets. How many catches.stumpings/run outs has he missed, only God knows. Was very slow in playing the runs then blamed the team not scored 350 (to cover up his errors). These are cunning. corrupt creatures.
Mahlea is a Great Player.
Dilhara Fernando is such a fine player, never used him during world cup, but brought in Sanga’s blue eyed boys Kulasekera and Chamara Kapugedera came from no where for the Cup Final only. One could see the disspointments Dilhara and Ajantha had whille sitting on the bench.
Murlai was selfish. He wanted to go with at the World Cup Final at any cost. Never had a patritotic thought about the Country, but only himself. If he was only 60% fit why did he play. On the Cup Final Day he could not lift his back foot up. Our President , Sanga and all others stated that we must win the Cup for Murali. Wrong – we must win the Cup for the 21 million people who just came out of the cluthches of terrorism.
Perera must have been asked to bat prior to Kulasekera.
Russell Arnold must not be nominated as Sri Lanka’s representative commentator for Fox Sports. He never stated anything good about Sri Lanka, instead promoted Murali only. Best international Commentor we had – Gamini Gunasena. Ranjith Fernando was useless.
Sack Sangakkara and Aravinda NOW.
Duleep Mendis must be in charge of Sri Lanka Cricket.
Again, Dilshan must be the new Captain with Malinga as Vice Captain. Don’t appoint Matthews as Captain, he will be another Murali and Russel Arnold.
April 3rd, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Very interesting home truths here albeit mixed with a few misconceptions.
Duleep Mendis’ days are over perhaps Arjuna Ranatunga a better bet.
Sanath Jayasuriya is a phenomenal athlete and indeed had he played in the final with Chamida Vaas there could easily have been a difference to the outcome.
Sacking Kumar sangakkara is not the answer to Sri Lanka’s cricketing woes but replacing Aravinda de Silva and D.S. de Silva sounds quite meritworthy
As far as commentating goes yes Russel Arnold is as much a shop talker as was Ranjith Fernando where the Likes of Ranil Abeynaike and Roshan Abeysundera( hope I got the last name right) are classy inpartial as well as accurate commentators whose recieved pronounciation of the English language does not sound as though it is a pulpit sermon by a pastor with chewing gum between his teeth!Tillekeratne Dilshan for Captain and Lasith Malinga for his deputy does sound a bit too circumspect whereas recalling Mahela Jayawardena might be a good option with Kumar Sangakkara as his deputy. There is no question that Angelo Mathews will one day make a fine captain, he has already proved this at a lower level.
April 3rd, 2011 at 8:23 pm
Sunil and Dhanushka,
I agree to most of your comments except
“Sanath Jayasuriya is a phenomenal athlete and indeed had he played in the final with Chamida Vaas there could easily have been a difference to the outcome”
“Sanath Jayasuriya is now 40. Age is imaterial if you are a good player. Sanath is still the Best Player in Sri Lanka. He is the best cricketer Sri Lanka has ever produced. He will flourish in the UK series, Ihope. ”
You hope ? He will not. He is a selfish bastard too!
I like this.
Murlai was selfish. He wanted to go with at the World Cup Final at any cost. Never had a patritotic thought about the Country, but only himself. If he was only 60% fit why did he play. On the Cup Final Day he could not lift his back foot up. Our President , Sanga and all others stated that we must win the Cup for Murali. Wrong – we must win the Cup for the 21 million people who just came out of the cluthches of terrorism.
Very true. Murali killed all our world cup chances.
“Perera must have been asked to bat prior to Kulasekera. ” Well, more correct to say Perera could have been used to open with Malinga to apply pressure to opening batsmen. When Kula got hammered in first few overs, Sanga used Perera. Too late. When Schin got out he brought back Kula ( did not get hammered but provided batting warm up to Gambir and Dhoni.)..most stupid !
We needed a fast, fast bowler. It should have been Dilhara -even though it could have been a gamble , it is better than no gamble just stupid.
April 3rd, 2011 at 8:31 pm
Terry,
Nowadays you make better judgement sitting on arm chair , lookig at the monitor. Don’t be old fasioned.
“Dhoni and Gambhir took the game away from SL in a controlled manner. Indians are used to Murali by now and also Mendis.” This statement is damn stupid.
Are you saying selectors only got this knowledge on Sunday ? “Dhoni and Gambir was given batting practice for many overs” is the truth.
Snaga is a good captain with Mahel’a brain. He is brainless.
April 3rd, 2011 at 9:23 pm
No point of asking Mahela to take back Captaincy when he gave it up once. Sanga will get it back from him in no time. Dilshan is the best bet – until next World Cupt at least. He is 110% committet, true not a foul mouth. Or make Malinga the Captain. Yes he is from Village, so what? He gives 110% too.
I don’t think Ranil Abeyanake is a good commentator. Roshan Abeysinghe is a sports reporter not a commentator. It is ok if the commentator is partial as long as to Sri Lanka. All Austraian commentators, except Tony Greig, are partial to Australia. Best commentators are the British. Worst ever to be born is Ian Healy.
Arjuna Ranatunge is not impartial and hot tempered – not good for a selector. Government will never appoint him anyway, unless he makes a frog jump to the Government. he might do this if Sports Minister post is given to him.
DS De Silva may still be good – he got things done within time, a workman like man. But I have heard his nephews Dandeniyas are corrupt.
Government is goingt to waste billions on Commonwealth Games. They do not have wisdom nor vision.
Winning World Cup is not a big thing we might do it again in the next 20 years. There are only about 6 good teams in the World today including Sri Lanka, and there are 200+ countries in the world. Soccer is the World game not Cricket, Rugby or Baseball.
April 4th, 2011 at 3:23 am
Dhanushka,
Arjuna is a bloody idiot. He is a traitor betraying his country , going around the world with Fonseka song.
I agree Snaga should go and Dilshan is the best at the moment. Malinga is retiring. Medis is migrating. Corruption is OK but do not betray motherland. Murali just did that , greedy for fame.
April 4th, 2011 at 3:58 am
Malinga will reconsider if he is properly treated (given vice captaincy) and convinced that there is fair play and justice
April 4th, 2011 at 6:00 am
Looks like the armchair pundits have gone to town!!
In this game there is a winner and loser – India was a better side on the day. One has to accept that fact and move on.
Those who are calling for Sanga’s head should look at the statistics – He tops the batting averages in both Test and ODIs for all SL players (since SL received test status)
April 4th, 2011 at 6:05 am
This was posted on my Blog a day ahead of the cup final & I am reproducing it again to say there could be other possibilities as well.
Quote
Trying to predict the outcome of the World cup cricket final to be held on Saturday (02nd April 2011) on a day like this (01st April 2011) is not only suicidal but inviting unwarranted tags too.
I am no “Paul” who had the uncanny ability to predict the outcome of the football World cup, but I have something which the (Late) Paul did not have in his armoury that the ability to reasoning.
My prediction is that the Indians would walk away with the Cup on Saturday, not because they are any superior to their opponents in any way but the outcome of it has already been decided, not on the field but off of it.
The word “Fixing” gives a very bad taste but if it can be replaced by “Pre-determined”, then it would not taste so bad, I hope.
The extent of the Pre-determination was not only very much evident in the recently concluded Semi-final match in Mohali but in many of the other crucial previous fixtures too.
Just try the fathom the plight of the big spenders who have invested in Millions (if not in billions) on endorsements and advertisements in this tournament, if a smaller nation like Sri Lanka walks away with the cup.
Let’s go Guys (Gals too) and Cheer the Lankans but do not forget to place your bets on Indians.
Just like the big spenders, we too have to recover, at least our investments.
Unqote.
April 4th, 2011 at 11:32 am
Are you serious King Sasanka? As this is what many are hollering about today that the match was fixed. Could this be the reason Sangakkara’s field setting seemed to bleed runs no matter where the Indians hit the ball as opposed to how well the Indians set their field, was Kulasekera’s miss off Gambhir deliberate, it certainly looked catchable even to some of the commentators! and the manner in which Sangakkara acted behind the stumps more than once where he seemed all over himself in appealing and letting the ball slip by to the boundary where had he gathered it would have been an easy stumping. Maybe there’s more to it than meets the common eyewhere there probably should be a through investigation into all these allegations and observations as well as dope testing both sides where something could crop up to incriminate all the wrongdoing if there was any. The prospects seem frightening from any perspective if these are proven and will harm the game at this level for certain.
It certainly is not something to sweep under the carpet and if the Indians were liable for the fixing in collaboration with the big businessmen and big buck sponsorship scenario and the gullible Lankans taking the bait this whole thing could blow up like a powder keg!
But if the top of the ICC is run by a corrupt Indian as someone refered him to be it will not be possible unless there is a vast hue and cry demanding it and much more than the CEO of the ICC got involved!.
April 4th, 2011 at 11:50 am
Who is this Doosra Kumar? How many Tests and ODI’s has he played? Sri Lankans have done well to reach the Finals and was beaten by a superior side; there is no shame in that. Well done Sri Lanka…
April 4th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Aravinda,
Doosra Kumar is Aravinda De Silva’s illegitimate child in Australia ! This kid is angry with his father.
It does not matter whether the kid played ODI’s or not. Look at the facts and argue. Otherwise you are a fool.
Indian batsmen are best for spin. In world cup this time they have been dismissed by fast bowlers 38 times where as by slow bowlers 17 times. hwy the hell we chose unfit Murali ahead of other capable bowles ? That was Doosra Kumar’s argument. Beat it if you can without barking like a fool on his credentials.
April 5th, 2011 at 3:18 am
Under Sangakkara Sri Lanka will never win a world cup
Under Aravinda Sri Lanka will never win a world cup
Chamara Kapugedera fumbled so badly in the field Inidans were benefitted with so many boundaries
Sangakkara is a bad wicket keeper. In his career he has missed so many cathces, stumpings and run outs but covers himself with deceit
Leaving such a fine bowler as Dilhara on the bench was a ‘crime’
Chamara Silva is a much better batsman than Chamara Kapugedera. Chamara Silva should have played in the final. He played good shots in the latter part of the tournament after having temporarily recovered from the family berevement
Upul Tharanga wasted 20 balls to score 2 runs. This is inexcusable.
Upul Tharanga is not good for one day matches
Samaraweera should never be included in a one day team
Sangakkara’s 48 was too slow. Then he blamed 274 was too little
274 was a good score (thanks to Mahela), as Sangakkara stated 350 was not required
Mahela, Dilshan and Malinda are the only naturla born criketers. Sanath is another
It is a joke that everyone who had cut Sanath Jayasuriya into pieces now says good things about him. Typical Sri Lankan way
Muralidaran is not God
If we want to win one day matches must have good all rounders. Ruchira Perera must be groomed to open batting with Dilshan
Must persuade Malinda to continue to play. he must be a very dejected man, after bowling so well in the whole tournament
DS De Silva is ok but not the Dandeniya brothers
Duleep Mendis is a gentleman and not a show off (biggest show off is Sangakkara)
At the New Zealand semi final happy that Sangakkara spoke few words in Sinhala. but why did he addressed the people as “oya gollo”? Shows the distance with the people. Shows his arrogance and superiority complex (not good)
Ana Punchihewa may be a good person to lead Sri Lanka cricket
April 5th, 2011 at 3:19 am
I cant believe what rubbish some people write…We live in Australia and the comments we hear from everyone was how well the Srilankan team played. For sure India had a top batting line up. But our boys did a fabulous job. They came to the finals beating all the other nations. Its just sad what the newspapers write about murali and sanga. What if the SL team won. The papers would have praised them 150%. Come on guys. Grow up!!! Be proud of the boys and what they did instead of humilating them. We feel Sanga is the best captain in the world -Calm and cool. Do you want to see him cry after the game that he did not win the cup for the SL ? How the hell can this be a match fixing game. Murali played for the country even though he was not fit. That shows his love for the country. The media praised Murali all these years and here in a split second the media is against him. After all we know how well the media can play politics. Come on guys – give some credits to the boys for coming into the finals!
April 5th, 2011 at 5:41 am
First my hats off to Sri Lanka cricket team. It is extraordinary that SL reached the finals in both 2007 and 2011. This is a great achievement in our cricket. It shows that our team is a superb team. In any sport when two teams contest at the end of the day only one can win and sadly someone had to lose. Losing the final is not a humiliation. This is the reality.
We played better cricket than Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, England, New Zealand and West Indies. Finals played in front of one billion Indians. Our team played their best and reached 274 and made whole India shocked from their first over itself and their win was not a easy peace of cake to them. If our team got out for 120 or 150 it is reasonable to blame them. Will you guys believe when Malinga bowling some Indian spectators prayed for their gods even?
We have seen great batting by Dilshan, Kumar, Mahela, Tharanga and Angelo and brilliant fielding by Dilshan and Mahela in throughout the tournament. Lasith Malinga, Murali Dilshan and Mendis did their best in bowling department. Malinga’s yorkers to Kenya are great to watch again. In semi finals his yorker to New Zealand’s Guptill considered as the “best of the world cup”. Not to forget if not their hard work we would have eliminate long ago and finals between India with some other team.
There were some unfortunate things also happened in selection. My blame is only to selection committee and to the cricket board. They have not made use of our best human resources to this world cup. In this world cup selecting pool we had world best one-day international cricket all- rounder (Batting 13,000 Runs and 322 Wickets) and world’s second best batsman (13,000 Runs). He is the present world’s fourth best bowler after Murali, Vaz, and Bret Lee. Also we had in our pool world’ s second best cricket one-day international bowler as well as world’s most accurate pace bowler. (Murali is the best one-day bowler) For unknown reason we omitted both of them and paid for it badly. We knew from the begging that our middle order batting was utter failure and there weren’t any pace bowler to support Malinga in bowling department. Selecting committee were guilty in throughout that’s the reason they called for Vaz at the last day and even though again they kept him out. What an insult to a world-class bowler?
Don’t know who recommended Kapugedera, Chamara Silva and Kulasekera to the team. Their performances are not enough to come to a national side. It is strange why they were in the pool. Even before world cup there was an article in a newspaper that a selection committee member is taking bribes from players.
Sanga was not the same sanga in this final. We haven’t heard any encouraging word from him. His bowling changes were not good at all. Dilshan’s had best figures with 5 ov, R 27, Wk 1, Av 5.40, Murali bowled only 8 overs, Randiv Bowled 9 overs. But even though surprisingly Kumar gave last two overs to Kulasekera his figures were 8 overs 64 runs and average 7.68. So Dhoni made enough runs in his last two overs. Was it purposely gave him runs to make a century in the finals? Was it an IPL obligation? Is this the reason former ICC chairman Malcolm Speed meant and said that “Indian financial power will influence world cricket in future”.Is it betting or match fixing?
Horrible Indian sportsmanship! Host captain Dhoni not even an appreciate word on Sri Lanka team non second to bias commentary of Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri !
April 5th, 2011 at 6:02 am
Am I serious someone asked and I say YES I am?
Remember some years back a large sum of cash was found in the hotel room which was occupied by one of the Sri Lankan cricketers (whom many regarded as a gentleman till then), who denied the ownership of that parcel found by one of the hotel staff.
What did the authorities do to get to the bottom of the unclaimed money issue?
None.
Some of our current and former cricketers are living beyond their means but I do not think that either the local or the governing authority is not interested in investigating to find out how they manage such life style.
Because if you try to upset the applecart then their extravagant life styles too would come crumbling down so why to upset a few.
April 5th, 2011 at 6:51 am
‘Aravinda’ has asked questions uncannily in the same manner as his name sake ~ (or is this the man himself ?)` the chairman of selectors would ~”Who is this Doosra Kumar? How many Tests and ODI’s has he played? Sri Lankans have done well to reach the Finals and was beaten by a superior side; there is no shame in that. Well done Sri Lanka…” and the reply to this is:
To ask questions about the nimber of Tests and ODI’s he has played seems a dead giveaway of his identity and a fair inference that this must be the man himself.Sorry Aravinda old boy but facts are stubborn, if this is the real Aravinda himself. Sri Lanka did well indeed to reach the finals albeit beating lesser opposition than the Indians but in the final there was no Indian superiority by any stretch of the imagination until Sri Lanka made them look that way! Sri Lanka was the superior team in the eyes of many analysts with all the ammunition needed to topple the Indians but gave up the fight for reasons best known to themselves and the hierarchy as some have hinted and there is no explanation beyond this. They almost handed the game on a platter to the Indians who grabbed it with glee! Gone was the Sri Lankan fighting spirit and they seemed a spent lot !
The catalysts to this tumultuous defeatin all probabilities was the bungling at administrative and captaincy level. It was a shame that players like Mahela Jayawardena and Lasith Malinga were so demoralised despite theuir brilliant efforts and players like Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando who could have made a big difference towards the final outcome (apart from any other scenario pre-empting the outcome of course ) excluded.
And one does not need to be an international player at the highest level to make the conclusions made by Kumar as history has proved the likes of Neville Cardus, John Arlott, E.W. Swanton etc. to name some of cricket’s greatest and even Dickie Bird who never played representative cricket whose constructive criticism was greatly accepted and appreciated for accuracy.
So If this is the real Aravinda ~ you need to re-think your strategies and plans for the future as Arjuna Ranatunga is bound to come calling! And if not, you better not give up your day job!
April 5th, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Lots of people say we should be proud that we were the runners up. But, the whole world talks only about the World Champions (India) and not us. This wiil be the case for the next 4 years. We will soon be forgotten. In 2007 we gave up the Championship to Australia because our team management did not know the rules. Sufficient number of overs had not been balled when bad light crept in. Our idiots (including the then Captian Mahela) agreed to play in total darkness. According to the rules, it was an abandoned match – means the cup should have been shared between Australia and Sri Lanka, or a 2nd match should have been organised. Our idiots gave into to Australian pressure and obvioulsy and knowingly they played and lost. This time (2011) we could have easily won the Cup, if not for the incompetence of Sanga, Chamara Kapugedera and Kulasekera. It was a very selfish act for Murali to play with an injured leg.
April 5th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
I bet those who are satisfied by saying ” we are the second best. we lost to better team” have never played cricket or any competitive game.
I also accept that we should give all credit to runnerup if they went down fighting. However, this is not the case.
If Murali a true patriot he would not have the heart to play in the final ( only exception is he was such a stupid fool that he thought he could get Indian top order out without bowling properly.) In any case I cannot agree more with Dhanushka that he is a selfish arrogant idiot that he though he was better than Mendis or Herat even when 20% fit.
The truth probably was, he strongly trusted other bowlers would do the job for him and he could ride on others to claim 2 world cups. Hwether they have taken bribes or not there are many traitors in Sri lanka cricket. No doubt in that.
April 7th, 2011 at 12:28 am
The World Cup was simply meant to be with Sri Lanka, but do you know that this match was sold, sold for India to win my friends. I don’t know who is involved, but it was sold and whoever sold got more money than the World Cup !!
Did you notice how the Sri Lankans batted, bowled and fielded, did you not think that the Lankans could not have played much better than what they did at the WORLD CUP ? Bowling was made easy for the Indian batsmen, and fielding helped them to score singles and runs !!
Zaheer Khan who is not a good fielder proved that he can field, did any Lankan player committ this on the field.
Just think about it mates !!!
Rgds
April 7th, 2011 at 8:31 pm
Sunil,
Whether this is real Aravinda or not facts are facts. Real Aravinda, despite being one of our cricket heroes, has not cricketing sense if his decisions of playing Murali, Kulasekara ( pandama) and Kapugedara (bokkuwa) was responsible for loosing world cup.
Hopefully these players will never play again.(eneough money earned).
Hopefully Aravinad will never be invited again. He is incapable to this job because if this team(without the names mentioned) which was the best in history could not win unders his stupid selection, we never will.
We need better brains. Need not be a past cricket palyer because most of them are not that bright anyway. We need some intelligent people to manage cricket. May be Gotabhaya Rajapakse.
April 8th, 2011 at 12:19 am
Sanga a very poor captain and had sometimes being disgrace to the Nation. Sends so many bokkus and missed opportunities (catches and stampings). If he is appointed because of his English, well then appoint him as an English Professor not Sri Lanka Captain. Sanga appeals for hora outs knowingly they are hora outs. He teaches the up and coming young players to cheat – remember how he abused final Randeev at the WC for not appealing when it was not out. Poor Randiv did not know what to do – Captain asking him to make hora appeals. I think Sanga had been punished for abusing other western cricketers and doing dodgy things behind the wicket. After he became Captain he reformed himself. Sanga never encourages the fielders from behind the wicket saying things things that Kaluwitharana used to say “lami den hondata allanna etc”. Dilshan encourages other players. Dilshan may abuse others only when others are useless like Kulasekera and Kapugedera. When Murali abuses others in utmost filth it is still good for everyone, they only have a problem with Dilshan, who is a really down to earth man. Matthews is not a permanent cadre of the team to be appointed as Captain. He is too young any way and untested material. Samaraweera should never be allowed to step into a one day side. Dilshan for Captain Malinga for Vice Captain.
April 9th, 2011 at 6:42 am
100% agree with Dhnushka, well said.
April 9th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
For the final world cup match, if AJANTHA MENDIS, RANGANA HERATH, CHAMARA SILVA are in the team, Then Srilanka team wins the final world cup match.