With the lead-up tailor-made for a thrilling final, there was always the danger that the match itself would be an anti-climax. Fortunately, that did not happen, and Sri Lanka and India put on a magnificent display of gritty, hard-fought one-day cricket. The atmosphere at the ground was the perfect example of Asian cricket culture: thousands of screaming people, waving flags and providing vociferous support. In the background, the irresistible sound of the brass ‘papare’ bands in perfect harmony with the somewhat harshly sung ‘baila’. The roar of the fans as Marvan won the toss was apt; any side would prefer to bat first at Khettarama. Our innings was set up by the destructive batting of Jayasuriya, which was followed up by the touch and finesse of Jayawardene and Arnold. Jayasuriya, who also reached 10,000 runs, gave us the ideal base to control the game. The other two put the icing on the cake by manoeuvring the bowling with total control to give us what we were looking for — a total beyond 250. Even though Nehra bowled well, there was a general sense of disorganisation and frustration in the Indian bowling. It seems that they look to Pathan to give them leadership and when he fails to fire, there is no one else to take on that mantle. Our confidence was high going into field but we were shaken by the heroics of Sehwag. His explosive batting where he took 26 runs off a Lokuhettige over set the tone for the Indian batsmen. Great credit should go to our bowlers for keeping a cool head under that barrage and ‘Vaasy’ as usual gave us the vital breakthrough. Then came the second turning point of the match. Dilshan took full advantage of a miscommunication between batsmen to get rid of Dravid. To us it was crucial. India had now lost its guide. We could make full use of our slow strangle on a pitch on which Murali would love to build his perm-anent home. This was the first test on our campaign to become world leaders in cricket. Though we were victorious, there are areas in which we must improve. Striving to reach excellence in fitness, teamwork and individual performance is vital to perform consistently at an elite level. It will be hard work. As for India, another final has come and gone, but the positives are many. A resurgent bowling attack and young exciting talent to complement the senior masters augurs well for the future. The rest is up to the individuals. But for the moment we can bask in the glory of victory, knowing full well that we face tougher tests ahead. There is no rest for the weary, just a constant grind towards a plane of improvement where we as a team will be defined by our pride and professionalism in performance and our hunger to win. (Gameplan)
