Dhoni’s men lose to Sri Lanka and fail to qualify for semifinals of the World T20 for second consecutive year.
Sri Lanka handed India their third early exit in as many showcase ICC events when they recorded a thrilling last-ball five-wicket win, one that was powered by a late flurry of boundaries from all-rounders Angelo Mathews and Chamara Kapugedera.
Viswanathan Anand had done India proud by retaining his world champion title against the unpredictable Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in a nerve wracking final game, that too with black pieces, at Sofia. In the light of the odds Anand was up against, Indian team’s task at St Lucia seemed easier in spite of the country’s elite cricketers needing a victory margin of at least 20 runs to keep their hopes alive to qualify for the semifinals.
However, when Sri Lanka hit 44 runs off the last three overs, they finished off any hopes India harboured of making the final four. They got inside 20 runs of a win when Kapugedera dispatched a full toss from debutant Vinay Kumar over the long on boundary.
Sri Lankan lost in-form Mahela Jayawardene and explosive Sanath Jayasuriya early but found heroes in Tillakaratne Dilshan, all-rounder Mathews, skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Kapugedera, who hit the winning six off the last ball.
This is the third global tournament in which India have come a cropper. They failed to make the semifinals of the World Twenty20 last year and also exited early in the 2009 Champions Trophy.
India started off on a good note as Ashish Nehra and debutant Vinay Kumar struck in their first two overs of the innings to remove Jayawardene and Jayasuriya respectively.
Dilshan fell after providing the innings a much-needed impetus with 33 off 26 before Sangakkara and Mathews took over with a 56-run partnership.
Kumar once again raised India’s hopes of restricting the Lankans when he clean bowled the well set Lankan captain, but it was too late in the innings.
Earlier, powered by a half-century by Suresh Raina and an effective 41 by Gautam Gambhir, India posted a competitive total. But the total of 163 was only a modest one and was not formidable enough to challenge the islanders.
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