E-Paper
India lost due to lack of partnerships
Chasing a modest target of 228 runs, Ganguly's men tumbled facing the Sri Lankan spinners costing India the Asia Cup title on Sunday.
Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said his batsmen's failure to produce enough partnerships cost his team the Asia Cup title in the final match against Sri Lanka.
Chasing a modest target of 228 runs, Ganguly's men tumbled facing the Sri Lankan spinners on a slow-turning pitch, to be restricted for 203 runs for nine wickets on Sunday at Colombo's Premadasa Stadium.
"We did not expect the pitch to be so difficult but, we had the batting to get that score ... still not enough partnerships," Ganguly told reporters after the final match.
Ganguly said he was surprised with the way batsmen struggled to pick up singles and rotate the strike on a pitch that made stroke play difficult.
Leg spinner Upul Chandana (3-33) tore through the Indian middle order as Sri Lanka completed a hat-trick of Asia Cup title triumphs on its home soil, having emerged champion when it hosted the tournament in 1986 and 1997.
Batting first after skipper Marvan Atapattu won the toss, Sri Lanka suffered a middle-order collapse following a blazing century partnership between Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara.
India, the 2003 World Cup finalist failed to cast away the tag of title-contest choker having lost its 10th match out of 13 outings on Sunday.
The Indians who had performed well over the last two years, had no positives to carry with them from the Asia Cup championship, Ganguly said.
"It's difficult to say what positives we had, except the return of Harbhajan Singh," he said referring to the team's leading off spinner who had a six-moth layoff before the tournament because of injury.
India also lost two matches to archrival Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Atapattu said the dismissal of star batsman Sachin Tendulkar for 74 as the seventh man, was the turning point of the match in favor of his side.
"It's a victory for team work and collective effort," he said. "The winning streak can be extended if we do our basics right. No team is unbeatable in this cricketing world," he said. Atapattu said star opener Sanath Jayasuriya has silenced his critics through his man
of the series performance in the Asia Cup during which he gained 293 runs at an average of 73 before the final.
Jayasuriya came under attack by the Sri Lankan media before the tournament for lack of performance.
