The night of 6th April saw the repeat of the 2011 Cricket World Cup final in the Twenty20 format as India met Sri Lanka in an all-Asian final. The game was highly anticipated what with the huge fan-following the game enjoys, especially in the Indian subcontinent.
Sri Lanka reached the finals with the Rain Gods turning in their favour as the semi-final between West Indies and Sri Lanka was abandoned due to rain and the Lankans were judged the winners by the Duckworth-Lewis Method. India had had a very strong run in the competition with a hundred percent winning record in the tournament this year. The Indian side overcame a massive total of 172 runs set up South Africa in the Semi-final to win the game with 5 balls to spare. Virat Kohli shined through the game knocking an unbeaten 72 runs off 44 balls to clinch the match.
If Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team went on to win the final, it would be the first team ever in the history of the sport to hold all the major titles in its trophy cabinet, having won the One-Day World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy last year. The odds appeared to be in favour of the Indian side as Sri Lanka had faced a cursed streak in major trophy finals in the past, losing the One-Day World Cup finals in 2007 and 2011 and the Twenty20 World Cup final in 2009 and 2012.
Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bowl first. Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane were the openers for the Indian side. Rahane once again took an early exit to the dressing room with 3 runs off 8 balls. Virat Kohli delivered a note worthy performance yet again, again knocking 77 runs off 58 balls. The disappointment for the Indian side turned out to be the usually reliable, Yuvraj Singh, whose hard-hitting style is world renowned. He was only able to gather 11 runs off 21 balls much to the frustration of Indian fans, pretty evident from the scenes in the stadium. Overall, India put up a below-par total of 130 runs for 4 wickets.
Sri Lanka’s innings was a perfect example of the saying, “Slow and steady wins the race” as Kumar Sangakkara hit 52 runs for 32 balls remaining unbeaten to clinch the title for the Lankans and to conclude his T20 career in a perfect way. Sri Lanka won the match by 6 wickets.
The Lankans finally broke their curse in the finals much to the disappointment of the 1 billion supporters in India. Sangakkara was named the Man of The Match for match-winning innings while Virat Kohli got a well-deserved Player of the Series award for his batting prowess.
Image courtesy: sports.ndtv.com
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