Sri Lanka celebrates India's Independence - in style

There is something remorseless, awesome, about the Sri Lankan team in a one day context.

Sure, they have had their share of losses after lifting the Wills World Cup in February 1996 - but there is, today, no team that can say with any confidence that it can go up against Sri Lanka and win. At best, they can - and, I suspect, most teams do - hope that on the day, Sri Lanka is having an off day.

If Pakistan went into the second final of the Independence Cup game, then that hope was belied before the game was even ten overs old. The Eden Gardens pitch - very reminiscent in character to the one on which India took on Sri Lanka in the World Cup semifinal and lost, batting second - was hard and dry, and apparently geared to take turn well before the match had crossed the halfway stage.

Ranatunda duly obliged his boys by winning the toss. And Jayasuriya, in tandem with makeshift opener Marvan Atappatu, pretty much dictated the way the game would go with a furious assault that netted him 55 off 40 deliveries with seven fours and a six, while Atapattu, eschewing his usual nudges and strike rotation, blazed away to the tune of 29 off 30 balls with five fours.

True, the insertion of Romesh Kaluwitharana in the number three slot, to take advantage of the fact that the field restrictions were still in place, did not yield much result, thanks to an umpiring error from Steve Dunne who judged rather harshly on an LBW appeal. But then, a team that bats Aravinda D'Silva in its ranks has no real worries about run rates, and the Lankan vice captain picked up from Mohali, blasting 57 off 49 deliveries with 8 fours. Skipper Arjuna Ranatunga - perhaps rightly termed, by no less than Sir Garfield Sobers - as one of the most dangerous middle order batsmen for the sheer ease with which he keeps the score moving along at a brisk rate, weighed in with 59 off 77 with three fours and a six, Hashan Tillekeratne (38 off 48, one four and one six), Roshan Mahanama (27 off 27 with three fours and Kumara Dharmasena (16 off 12 with two fours) all joined in the party and when the last man was out in the fourth ball of the last over, Sri Lanka had already put on an imposing 309 on the board.

Not quite as impressive, perhaps, as the total at Mohali - but given that the wicket by this stage was turning almost square, and Sri Lanka could call on the services of as many as four spinners, Pakistan had been batted out of the game right there.

Predictably, both Saeed Anwar and Shahid Afridi perished early, attempting to blast the bowling and knock a big hole in the target. The point was made during the first final - that setting a huge target entails less pressure than chasing one - and on the day, Pakistan were further handicapped by the loss of Inzamam ul Haq due to a fractured thumb. Ramiz Raja (76 off 101 with 8 fours) and Ijaz Ahmed (55 off 60 with six fours and a six) did attempt a fightback of sorts, but given the accuracy and control of Muralitharan and Dharmasena, found the run rate climbing away from them despite their best efforts. Salim Malik, arguably Pakistan's best player of spin, was beaten for flight by a beauty from Muralitharan for Kaluwitharana to pull off the stumping when the batsman had made just two runs, and the dangerous Moin Khan was again lured into a big hit by the teasing flight of Murali only to slam the ball down Atapattu's throat at midwicket - and with those two wickets, the stuffing had been knocked out of the Pak response.

In the event, Pakistan managed a mere 224 in 43.1 overs, to give Sri Lanka an emphatic 85-run win and its second trophy on Indian soil this cricketing season. Interesting, that - the Lankans began the season with the World Cup win, and have ended it by lifting the Independence Cup. Aravinda D'Silva, in February 1996, was named Man of the Match in the final - as he was, again, here. And Sanath Jayasuriya, player of the tournament in the World Cup, was again Man of the Series here.

The more things change, apparently, the more they remain the same for Sri Lanka.

Scoreboard