India was the favourite to win the world cup but when Sri Lanka rattled up 274 and had India struggling at 30 for 2 with both Sehwag and Tendulkar out, I thought an upset was on the cards. It was not to be, thanks to Gambhir and above all, Dhoni, who kept his head, calmed his partners and batted steadily.
Dhoni is an Indian, with the temperament of an Australian, Mark Taylor comes to mind and this is what won India the cup.
Some very fine batting from Jayawardene, with graceful support from Sangakkara set the stage for a big total. The new faces in the middle order delivered on expectations and punched the ball all over the field in the power play.
The Indian batting lived upto its reputation and performed under pressure, but all credit to the Sri Lankan team, they fought to the end and it could have gone either way upto the last couple of overs. They played better than they had at any time in the tournament and would have made worthy winners, unlike the team who scraped it into the final and then played badly to lose in 2007.
Overall, an excellent game of cricket. I would have liked to see Tendulkar score a few more runs though, he was looking very good and would have made an excellent counterpoint to Jayawardena's. Gambir, Kholi and Dhoni did get the runs, but Tendulkar's craftsmanship is matchless.
India can be justly proud of its victory. The victory in 1983 was a fluke, an overconfident West Indies attempted to finish the match early, threw their bats at everything and gifted their wickets. The West Indian's showed their real class in their tour of India later that year, whitewashing them 5-0 in the One dayers and 3-0 in the six test series.
1 comment:
I think he was saying it seemed a bit predictable having both the hosts in the final. They may have been the best teams and they both performed pretty professionally in the final but having an outsider or underdog in there makes it more interesting and gives you someone to back as a neutral.
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