My prediction of becoming world champions again under the captaincy of "Sanga" could have been true last night, if our team played at the same pace they used to play throughout the rest of the tournament. Anyway, I don’t want to criticize the captaincy or players by writing this note, because they brought wonderful entertainment by playing good cricket—I have few things to mention here to get rid of the sad feelings in my mind:
- Although he scored some runs, "Sanga" didn’t lead the team: I must say that World Cup final match is not the correct time to try new things out. I have few question here:
- How did Jehan Mubharak come in 3rd in the batting lineup? I heard the same question was raised by both international and local commentators during the match. One might ask "what if that worked?" I would say, "Ya, that’s true ... but, the final match is not the correct time to take that sort of a risk."
- Why was Isuru Udana placed before Angelo Mathews in the batting lineup? Angelo Mathews played some sensible cricket throughout the tournament. He played well even though he was sent to the field during the latter stages of the matches. More importantly he remained not out, like he did yesterday. International commentators mentioned that he is an active player who is always "in the game" and not switched off during play. Instead of just playing the game, he has a good idea about what’s happening around. I would like to predict one more thing here. I feel Angelo Mathews will make a good captain some day. He demonstrates good qualities of a captain.
- Sri Lankan players batted without responsibility from my opinion. They should have been more responsible, since it was the final match. Dilshan failed for the second time in this tournament at a crucial time. However, no one can blame at him because you can’t rely on one player at all times:
- What did Mahela do? Didn’t he see that there was a slip fielder? As the former captain of the team, he should have played more responsibly.
- Why did Chamara Silva play in the final game? He didn’t play at least one good inning throughout the tournament. Wasn’t there a replacement for him? Thilan Thushara, an all-rounder should have been a good replacement. If they wanted a batsman there were players like Indika De Seram.
Anyway now it’s all done, and I would like to congratulate the Sri Lankan team for becoming the runners-up—and thank them for the wonderful cricket they played throughout the tournament. At the same time, I wish good luck to Sangakkara for his guidance in becoming the runner-up team.
If it was an ordinary match vs. Pakistan I would say they can take this as a lesson and do better in future. But, It was the final match of the ICC T-20 World Championship 2009!
