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"Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong; they are the ones to attain felicity".
(surah Al-Imran,ayat-104)
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User Name: abdulruff
Full Name: Dr.Abdul Ruff Colachal
User since: 15/Mar/2008
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Winning Cricket in Style: Some Glimpses
 
The victorious Sri Lanka cricket team returned from Karachi to Colombo on 09 July to a rousing welcome with the Asia Cup after beating India by 100 runs in the final. 
The architects of the victory, ace spinner Jayantha Mendis, who bagged 6 wickets by conceding just 13 runs for India and opener Sanath Jayasuriya, who scored with
125 runs off just 114 balls (that included nine fours and five sixes) after their at the Katunayake International Airport on arrival Sri Lanka's new spin
sensation, Mendis grabbed a six wicket haul after Jayasuriya had hammered  a brilliant century as Sri Lanka clinched the Asia Cup for the fourth time
defeating India by 100 runs in the six nation tournament final worked off under lights at the National Stadium in Karachi. Mendis the "trump", played in his first Asia
 Cup final and returned career best figures.
 
 
From a possible rout,
 the Lankans rose to clinch the series. Sri Lanka's
success in the ninth edition of the Asia Cup had a great amount of significance
because this was the first time they had won the title while performing abroad.
Al though all Lankan batsmen were out in 49.5 overs scoring just a total of 273
(Sri Lanka 273-10 (49.5) | RR: 5.48), they saw to it India collapsed even in
much worse fashion. India were also all out scoring fewer 173 runs unable to
complete even 40 overs (India 173-10 (39.3) |. RR: 4.38) This was
also the best bowling figures ever in an innings in the Asia Cup tournament.
 
 
Bating
 
This was after veteran Jayasuriya had struck a mastery century
 Sri
Lanka could pile up 273 runs after been put into bat. Jayasuriya had the situation well 
under control as he took the fight into the Indian bowlers with a combination of power 
and science. The dashing left hander playing in his 
record 25th Asia Cup match hammered an astonishing 125 runs which was also his second in the competition and his sixth overall in 
the Asia Cup history before Sri Lanka folded up in the last over. Jayasuriya who celebrated his
 39th birthday recently also pushed Australian captain Riky Ponting into the third place in the most number of centuries in one day 
internationals while scoring his 27th hundred in his 416th match from 79
deliveries with the aid of five sixes and nine boundaries. Jayasuriya quite played the 
sheet
 anchor role after Sri Lanka had lost four wickets within the first 12 overs of the innings. 
Jayasuriya found a reliable partner in 
Tillekeratne Dilshan and the pair pulled their side from a near total collapse into a strong position while putting on 131 runs for the fifth wicket. 
Dilshan brought an end to a series of low scores by stroking his
first fifty in five innings when his team needed him most, contributing a 56
runs from 68 balls.
 
 
Indians grew more aggressive and despite Jayasuriya's hundred and Sri
Lanka was not able to get a boundary between the 22nd and 40th over. Jayasuriya's second century of the tournament also saw him finish as the
highest scorer in the tournament with a tally of 378 in five matches at an
average of 75.60. India's Suresh Raina finished a close second, with 372 runs in six matches at 74.40.Jayasuriya raced to his 66th one
 day international half century by
hoisting his second six off Ishant Sharma over the mid wicket boundary.
Jayasuriya delivered another severe blow on R. P. Singh while taking 26
runs from
 one over which included three sixes and two fours. 
 
 
 Bowling
 
While Sri Lanka's formidable total of 273 was possible because of Jayasuriya,
Ajantha Mendis broke India's back with a mesmerizing six-wicket haul as Sri
Lanka won the Asia Cup cricket tournament with a facile 100-run
 victory.
Chasing 274, India's much-vaunted batting attack was bamboozled by
Mendis' bag of tricks and the mystery spinner emerged as the
wrecker-in-chief to bundle out India for 173 in just 39.3 overs. The Indian
batsmen obviously could not match up to Lankans. Chaminda Vaas started the
rot by removing Gautam Gambhir (6) in the fifth over before Mendis took over.
Sri Lanka's latest spin sensation Ajantha Mendis, who claimed a mesmerizing
six-wicket in the final, emerged as the highest wicket-taker in the tournament
with 17 wickets in five matches at an average of 8.52. His senior spin partner
Muttiah Muralitharan, finished with 11 wickets in five matches.
 
 
Mendis came into bowl at a vital stage of the innings when the Indian openers
Virender Sehwag and Gautham Gambhir had given
 their side another solid start
during their run chase. Although Gambhir fell in the fifth over his partner
Sehwag continued to punish the Sri Lankan attack reaching his fifty from just
26 balls with ten fours. In his first over, Mendis foxed an onrushing Sehwag
with a 'flicker' to get him stumped and two balls later, he flicked
another through Yuvraj Singh's gates to castle him for a duck. In his third
over, Mendis disturbed Suresh Raina's (16) timbers before trapping Rohit
Sharma (3) plumb in front four runs later. In
 the 32nd over again, he scalped
Irfan Pathan and RP Singh off. Mendis came back into the attack in the 30th
over and picked up two wickets in successive deliveries to seal the game in Sri
Lanka's favor. Mendis finished his first spell with remarkable figures of four
wickets for eight runs from four overs.
 
  
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa congratulated the Sri Lanka team
 for
their convincing 100-run win over India in the final to win their first Asia
Cup on foreign soil. In a special congratulatory message to Sri Lanka captain
Mahela Jayawardene, the sports-loving President President Rajapaksa commended
the fighting qualities of the Lankan team to win the title in style. 
 
Pakistan wins in style, but out of the  finals
 
In an inconsequential match in IPL between Pakistan and Bangladesh Pakistan
openers Salman Butt and Nasir Jamshed produced an unbroken century partnership
to set up a comprehensive 10-wicket win over Bangladesh in the final Asia Cup
super
 league match. Butt scored 56 and Jamshed reached 52 as the two
left-handers easily overtook the Bangladesh total of 115 in only 19.4 overs
(Pakistan 116-without losing any wickets in 19.4 overs. RR: 5.90). 
 
 
Eighteen-year-old Jamshed reached his fourth international one-day half-century
in his ninth match from 52 balls with five
 fours and two sixes in the 18th over.
Butt's fifty came from 60 balls with nine boundaries. Opening bowler Abdur
Rauf took the first three wickets to spark a Bangladesh batting collapse at the
National Stadium. Rauf captured three for 24 as Bangladesh were dismissed in
38.2 overs in overcast conditions assisting the pace bowlers. Bangladesh 115-10
(38.2) RR: 3.00.  (Indians think Bangladesh deliberately under-played)This is
Pakistan's first ever 10 wicket victory in an Asia Cup game. It was the
Bangladesh's lowest total of the tournament after Hong Kong's 118 in the
preliminary round. 
 
 
There are some amazing points to make here about the s present Pakistan team.
They seem to prefer move against the flow by electing to bowl in stead of
bating as is the practice and Indians would always prefer to bat first fearing
to lose if they bowl first. Then another point is, they are pretty to keen to
keep as many wickets as it sis possible even they could lose a couple of them,
they do so at times even ending disastrously. This myth they exploded
 by
electing to bowl first and played aggressively to improve the score ratings,
but they stuck to their pet plan, but made a wonderful inning without losing
any wicket. Perhaps this strategy might pay off well in due course. This match
reminds of the match in Calcutta by South Africans against India in 2006. (the
openers Smith and Hall did the same magic to enthuse the spectators at Eden's
Garden)
 
Abdur Rauf was judged the Man of the Match for his outstanding bowling figures
of 3 for 24 which rattled the Bangladeshi top order to cause the early
problems. It all went according to their plan, wonder what they would have done
after winning the toss. A good toss to lose indeed, they bowled in overcast
conditions. One can't just take credit away from the Pakistanis for holding
their nerves and pulling off a fine win here. Occasionally, Pakistanis discover ways of losing a match that is almost in
 their kitty and they do it so consistently and so well. However, they have played pretty well in Sri Lanka Tri-series as well recently. 
 
Pakistan defeats India
 
Pakistan shoved a 25-run defeat down India's throat to win the tri-series
in Dhaka on June 14 at Mirpur, Bangladesh Tri-series, while,
 despite dominating
the tournament with characteristic ruthlessness, the Indians failed when it
mattered most and choked in the final, allowing an under-pressure Pakistan to
avenge their league match defeat and claim the silverware, failed to
climb the run-mountain. After twin tons by Salman Butt (129 retired hurt) with 12 fours and 3 sixes and Younis Khan (108) with 8 fours and 
3 sixes propelled Pakistan to 315 for three, India faltered early 
in their chase and eventually folded for 290 in 48.2 overs. India scored 290-10 (48.2) | RR: 6.00, unable to reach the score set by
 Pakistan: 315-3 (50) |RR: 6.30. 
 
 
 
A strong start was pre-requisite for such a mammoth chase and with Virender
Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir (40 off 33 balls) in red hot form, India expected
another solid foundation from the openers. The sedate start proved the lull
before the storm and after Butt and Younis laid the perfect foundation for
 a
big score, Misbah-ul Haq threw his bat to good effect and chipped in with a
33-run came off just 21 balls as the side went past the 300-mark. But with the
first nine overs yielding just 29 runs, initially Pakistan was seen in trouble.
Younis soon notched up his fourth ODI century, which came off 92 balls and
scenario became clear for Islamabad.
 
Amazingly, though
 Pakistan defeated India could not reach the finals, but Indians who lost to Pakistanis were in the finals. This is illogical. 
 
Indians, who defeated Australia and had sufficient training in IPL with global
masters, have every reason to worry now, rather cry, over the "unscheduled" cricket
mastery of Pakistan and Sri
 Lanka. After Pakistan's victory over India, Sri Lanka has also defeated India to retain the Asia Cup. One does not know if India would be 
more annoyed if it were defeated again by Pakistan. 
 
Indian team is right now touring Sri Lanka trying its luck to avenge its

defeats in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

------------------------
Thank you
Yours Sincerely,
DR.ABDUL RUFF Colachal
Researcher in International Affairs,
South Asia
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