Sri Lanka – The ICC World T20 Champions

Sri Lanka 4-134 (Kumar Sangakkara 52, Mahela Jayawardene 24, Thisara Perera 23*, Mohit Sharma 1-18) beat India 4-130 (Virat Kohli 77, Rohit Sharma 29, Rangana Herath 1-23) by six wickets.

The Lankan Lions demonstrated positive cricket skills, well led by a superb fifty from Kumar Sangakkara, a crafty knock by Mahela Jayawardene and won vs. India.

The Men in Blue scored 130 runs for the loss of four wickets in 20 overs and the Lankan Lions piled up 134 with six wickets in hand and 13 balls to spare.

Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) was announced ‘Player of the match’ for his superb unbeaten fifty.

Virat Kohli (India) was declared ‘Player of the tournament’ for his brilliant batting in the event. He smashed 319 runs at an awesome average of 106.33 comprising 4 fifties with the highest of 77.

The ICC World T20- Final was played on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur.

Kumar Sangakkara - Player of the Final
Kumar Sangakkara – Player of the Final

Earlier, Lasith Malinga, the skipper of Sri Lanka, won the toss and opted to chase. India lost their first wicket at just four runs when the wonder boy of cricket, Virat Kohli, walked in next and started the consolidation project with Rohit Sharma. The first was dropped at 11 by Malinga and the batsman never looked back after that chance. Sharma departed at 64 for 29 and was replaced by Yuvraj Singh while Kohli attained his 8th T20 fifty in the 14th one. The hundred of the innings was displayed on board in the 16th over and Yuvraj Singh became the next victim at 119 after scoring just 11. The Islanders came back in the game with a commendable bowling in the last four overs and gave away just 11 runs. Virat Kohli was run out on the final delivery for 77 off 58 with 4 mighty sixes and 5 fours as the Blue Shirts scored 4-130.

Nuwan Kulasekara, Angelo Mathews and Rangana Herath were the only wicket takers with one each.

The Islanders went down by one wicket at five when Mahela Jayawardene along with Tillakaratne Dilshan got together in the center. The boundaries were showering from their willows regularly when Ravichandran Ashwin picked up the important wicket of the latter at 41 for 18. The out of form Kumar Sangakkara dropped in for his last international T20 when his side required best from him. The pace of scoring was picked up by the experienced duo and they took the score to 65 in 9.5 overs when Jayawardene surrendered his wicket for 24.

The fourth wicket of the Islanders fell at 78 when Thisara Perera associated with Sangakkara as their team required 53 off 42 to win the match. The batsmen took over the game completely and were punishing the bowlers at will. Kumar Sangakkara dispatched his 8th T20 half century with a four and remained unbeaten for 52 from just 35 with 1 six and 6 fours. Perera hit the winning six on the fifth delivery of the 18th over and secured his end for 23 as the Lankan Lions hammered 4-134.

Mohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Suresh Raina shared one wicket each.

Sri Lanka triumphed against India with a hefty margin of six wickets and lifted the coveted trophy of the ICC World T20, 2014.


Comments

6 responses to “Sri Lanka – The ICC World T20 Champions”

  1. Sri Lanka had a plan and they executed it very well. They deserve this victory, India couldn’t have done any thing better than what they already did. Yuvraj is not to be blamed, any batsman could have find himself not free to hit those difficult balls. 20-30 more runs might have given India a chance to defend.

  2. Sundar Avatar

    Yuvraj Singh is the culprit and so is MS Dhoni. Dhoni could have sent Raina or elevated himself instead of sending Yuvraj Singh. Everyone knows Yuvi is not in great form and you couldn’t have expected him to hit boundaries when Sri Lankan bowler bowled most accurate balls ever seen in T20 Cricket.

  3. Kushal Avatar

    India go home you are loser. The only place where you can flex your muscle is IPL. Good luck with that!

    1. Krishna Avatar

      20-30 more runs and you Sri Lankan were sent to the place where you always belonged – a big time final losers!

  4. Yuvraj's fan Avatar
    Yuvraj’s fan

    Yuvraj Singh, from hero to zero, it’s time to let him go. You can’t carry him like a burden when his days are over. He has been India’s darling, he has given his best to Indian Cricket now time to retire. I bet he will be flop in IPL and Kohli will regret his decision. You don’t win trophies with emotional attachment.

  5. Ronak Sinha Avatar
    Ronak Sinha

    I agree with Rathi, it was Sri Lanka’s disciplined bowling which won the trophy. No team could have played them any better and defended such low score on a flat pitch.

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