Champions Trophy: India bowl twice, bat just 10.4 overs; ICC introduces bizarre rule, robs Ganguly and Co. in the final
The 2002 Champions Trophy was shared between India and Sri Lanka after the twice-played final ended in a washout.
India and Sri Lanka contested the finals of the third edition of the Champions Trophy for a combined 110.2 overs spread over two days, and yet, there was no outright winner of the tournament in 2002, thanks to a strange playing condition that necessitated a fresh start on the reserve day.
The International Cricket Council seemed to have disregarded the success of resuming play on the reserve day from the position where it had been halted on the regulation match day, a rule that was in effect during the 1999 World Cup in England. Like England, Sri Lanka is notorious for weather interruptions at any stage of the year and commonsense dictated that the reserve day be used to decide an outright winner. But for reasons best known to the authorities, they opted to fix a rule that wasn’t broken, hence the two unbeaten teams of the tournament were crowned joint winners after play was abandoned on both match days.
Sri Lanka at home have always been a formidable force, especially in limited-overs cricket, and once again put on a show to remember for their faithful fans. They breezed past Pakistan and Netherlands in the group stage and swatted Australia aside by seven wickets in the semifinals, in a repeat of the 1996 World Cup final in Lahore. India, meanwhile, just about came through unscathed from their semifinal against South Africa, setting up a clash of the Asian giants at the R Premadasa Stadium on September 29.
Followers of Indian cricket were convinced that, having been semifinalists in 1998 and finalists in 2000, India emerging triumphant would be a natural progression. Sri Lanka, under Sanath Jayasuriya, had other aspirations. Jayasuriya opted to bat, banking on runs on the board in a cup final to put India under pressure, and set the tone with a fluent 74 though it was his partner Marvan Atapattu who dominated an opening stand of 65. Despite Kumar Sangakkara’s painstaking 54 off 89 deliveries, Sri Lanka scored briskly with Jayasuriya lacing his 89-ball 74 with seven fours on a somewhat sluggish outfield.
Handily placed at 185 for two, midway through the 39th over, the islanders were pegged back by Harbhajan Singh. The off-spinner, who had provided the initial breakthrough with the wicket of Atapattu, dismissed both Sangakkara and Aravinda de Silva as the hosts lost momentum and were forced to settle for 244 for five. Virender Sehwag smashed three fours in five balls but with India on 14 without loss after two overs, the rain came down and forced play to be called off.
Reserve Day
The routine continued the following afternoon though this time, Jayasuriya’s choice to bat first was soured by his dismissal off the first ball of the contest, from Zaheer Khan. India were switched on from the get-go, realising that Sri Lanka were feeling the heat – Sangakkara moved up to open with Jayasuriya and Atapattu dropped down to No. 3 – and kept whittling away at the wickets so that by the 17th over, the home side had lost its top four with only 71 on the board.
Such was the depth and quality of the Sri Lankan batting that they could call on the services of the classy Mahela Jayawardene and Russel Arnold. The rebuilding phase was laborious; Jayawardene was industrious without being domineering, the slowness of the surface preventing him from scoring with customary freedom, while the left-handed Arnold chose to focus primarily on survival. India weren’t complaining; Sourav Ganguly sized up the conditions beautifully and used his spinners for 36 overs. Harbhajan and Anil Kumble only picked up one wicket apiece, but they strangled the batters alongside Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, so that while Jayawardene and Arnold did put on 118 for the fifth wicket, they took 173 deliveries in doing so.
Jayawardene eventually perished for 77 but Arnold continued to struggle through to the end, finishing unbeaten on 56 off 101 deliveries. That he managed only three fours is a reflection of his safety-first mindset and had it not been for Chaminda Vaas lashing 17 off 10 right at the end, Sri Lanka wouldn’t have even reached their modest 222 for seven.
Rain was in the air and everyone knew it was only a matter of when rather than whether, once again bringing the playing conditions into sharp focus. India lost Dinesh Mongia to a nine-ball duck but Sehwag did what Sehwag does best – mocking the slowness of the track. He smashed three fours and a six to race to 25 off 22 when, after 8.4 overs with India on 38 for one, it bucketed down, consigning the final to a second watery grave in two nights.
Brief scores: On original match day: Sri Lanka: 244/5 in 50 overs (Sanath Jayasuriya 74, Marvan Atapattu 34, Kumar Sangakkara 54; Harbhajan Singh 3-27) vs India: 14/0 in 2 overs. Match abandoned.
On reserve day: Sri Lanka: 222/7 in 50 overs (Kumar Sangakkara 26, Aravinda de Silva 27, Mahela Jayawardene 77, Russel Arnold 56 n.o.; Zaheer Khan 3-44) vs India: 38/1 in 8.4 overs (Virender Sehwag 25 n.o.). Match abandoned. Trophy shared.
