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Journalism of Courage
On the eve of this final,skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni made it clear that he didnt mind how India went about scripting their victory,whether it was a contributive effort or individual brilliance,Dhoni said that he would take anything as long as India beat Sri Lanka.
In the end,the Indian skipper was the only individual brilliance a fighting 67 giving the side a chance. The lack of a contributive effort saw Dhoni and India lose the trophy by 74 runs. However,the individual efforts came from the bats of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara,while the Sri Lankan bowlers shared the wickets contributive effort to help the side win. For the hosts,the win would come as a relief after having lost the last two finals played in their backyard to the Indians.
The good deliveries were too few and far between to put the Sri Lankan openers under pressure early in the innings. The part-time spinners,Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag,bowled 13 overs between them,but none of the bowlers looked effective on a track which was closer in nature to those prepared for one-day cricket in the sub-continent. Prior to the final,the bowlers had largely kept India alive. The batsmen,barring Virender Sehwag,havent looked like making runs which could tally towards a greater team cause. On Saturday,India fell short on both counts.
Chasing a 300-run target,India were largely in the game due to the determined effort of Dhoni not to give his wicket away. He prolonged the inevitable by trying to shield the tail-enders and retaining much of the strike after Rohit Sharma batting at No.7 had another failure.
With the asking rate touching 25,Dhoni went for the big shot. Suraj Randivs delivery smashed into the stumps after taking an inside edge off the India skippers bat. It brought the end to a match that was done and dusted at least five overs earlier.
There were contributions from Virat Kohli,Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina,but all of them fell after getting off to starts. When Sehwag was run out after he tried to steal a non-existent run but was beaten by a throw from backward point,it was up to the rest to put their hand up and deliver.
The Sri Lankan medium pacers made the batsmen work hard for their runs. But this was the best wicket for batting in this tournament,even under the lights,and there cant be any reasonable excuse for another failure from this line-up. Raina and Rohit were deceived by the loop and turn of Randiv,while Yuvraj paid the price for playing across the line to Thisara Perera.
With the World Cup around the corner,Dhoni will be hoping for more from Indias younger crop,identified as the crème de la crème,and praying that they peak at the right time.
