Was the world ready for this?

Very recently while a revered former Sri Lanka stalwart was having a chat with me on twenty-20 cricket he mused “The hallmark of a good side is their ability to bail themselves out of tight situations”. That quip was really meant about Sri Lanka’s win against Bangladesh, but, now I feel that was a gross overstatement which may suit the marauding Pakistani outfit or the ever dependable Australian cricket machine.

On more than one occasion the Pakistani top four seemed to have let them down, but, their middle order pulled their socks up and stuck to their guns and saw to it that finally the wins came their way as if the results were really meant to come in that manner.

Then the Australians who were humiliated by rank outsiders Zimbabwe and then surprised by the young Pakistani outfit while losing the services of their skipper and the most consistent batsman Ricky Ponting bounced back in their very next outing to plunge Sri Lanka who entered the twenty-20 arena with a huge hue and a cry into oblivion.

Sri Lanka who has made Kenya their guinea-pigs posted history making totals in their World Cup outings blazed through their 20 overs to post a total of 260 runs and then made short work of the Kiwi bowling attack to mark their second win on the trot.

In both those games it was thirty-eight-year-old veteran Sanath Jayasuriya who guided the Lanakns in their initial stages so that the rest can take the cue and run with the wind.

Then came the debacle. In the next three innings Sanath failed getting enough ducks to decorate his Christmas table for his family and the rest of the visitors – making it three in a row. With the early demise of the veteran, the rest of the Lankan batting pack looked woefully inadequate. Once again they proved that a Lankan batting line-up sans the contribution of Jayasuriya will look so vulnerable and totally inadequate where the two shorter versions of the game are concerned.

What intrigued me so much is the way skipper Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara handled the hotbed situation when they faced the early demise of Jayasuriya in the final three innings they batted. Jayawardena like Jayasuriya also had an early go, but could not maintain the early momentum and kept on faltering when it came to the crux. Ironically Sangakkara who is one of the most accomplished batsmen in the world arena where the first two segments of cricket are concerned showed that his level of cricket cannot come down to the levels of being engaged in the type of Twenty-20 cricket.

At the same time all was not doomed for the Lankans. After a prolonged gestation period finally fast bowler Dilhara Fernando really proved that he has blossomed out to be a bowler who can handle any situation, under any pressure. Then in the middle order Jehan Mubarak also proved persistence of a player by those who matter can also yield results.

Chokers
As expected the South Africans proved themselves when they choked themselves out of the competition in their last outing. But, the question is – is Sri Lanka also becoming a set of chokers – at least when it comes to identified opponents?

It is a well known fact that Sri Lanka finds Australia the most difficult opponent to overcome in any form of the game. Besides scoring a sporadic win by the way, Sri Lanka has never made it a habit of beating their biggest enemies from down under.

But, there is another fact that has skipped all of us unless we have made an effort. Are we aware that it is only once that Sri Lanka has beaten Pakistan since the first Test in Faisalabad on October 24, 2004 by 201 runs when left arm spinner Rangana Herath bagged 4 for 64 to seal the fate of the game. The only other win against Pakistan came at the World Cricket Series - 3rd ODI played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi (neutral venue), on 22 May 2007.

After their World Cup debacle Pakistan eagerly met the runners-up of that tournament – Sri Lanka and beat them convincingly in the first two games and brought forth some changes in the third which thus enabled Sri Lanka to beat them by 115 runs.

Meanwhile Pakistan was one of the teams that beat Sri Lanka in their quest for the Champions Trophy, beating them by four wickets. Then Pakistan beat Sri Lanka 3-0 in the One Day Internationals and 1-0 in the Tests when they arrived in Sri Lanka the last time and beat Sri Lanka in the Twenty-20 prelude and did the same thing when they met them in the real thing to break their morale. . One must always be thankful that Sri Lanka did not have to face Pakistan during the last World Cup when they went up to end up as the runners-up.

Big hitters
In the pre-tournament publicity every one spoke about the belligerent hitting of batsmen in the calibre of Sanath Jayasuriya, Shahid Afridi, Herschel Gibbs, Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and the West Indian opener Chris Gayle. They said that this version was really derived for batsmen like them. Yes, some of them did come off in patches, but the batsmen who really shook the floorboards of the twenty-20 was an unknown Pakistani batsman by the name of Misbah-ul-Haq who was apparently chosen to replace their star batsman Mohammed Yousuf and India’s Yuvraj Singh whose very selection was once questioned by their own veteran players.

Finally there is one definition. Though they conducted this tournament and it was rather successful spectator wise, the world cricket was not ready for it and it is still in the trial and error stage. Whoever wins it tomorrow will take the cup more by chance than calculated design.