India registers its first win in the Asia Cup 2012, by beating Sri Lanka. But the Master Blaster is yet to recover from his lows, as he succumbs to six runs.
Team India fared very well on the continental turf and won its maiden ODI against the Sri Lanka at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh, in the four nations Asia Cup 2012, on Tuesday. Good news for Team India fans, that the squad has really made a re-branding of their stands by posting a huge total at the Continental turf. But fans were once again disappointed with the batting performance of the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. While the rest of the players in both the departments fared well, it was Sachin’s miserable failure that worried the team. Sachin was expected to off load his 100th 100 burden in this match as the playing conditions were pretty good. But once again he disappointed the eagerly awaiting fans.
But on the whole the match proved to give Team India its long thirsty victory and that too in style. Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field. Indians made a rampage of the Lankan bowling attack with back to back centuries by Gautam Gambhir (100) and Virat Kohli (108). Of the both the latter was exuberant in his approach and was awarded the Man of the Match. In the bowling department Farveez Maharoof played a vital role by capturing two praiseful wickets of both the hitting Indian batsmen, in the 43 over. India winded up its score at 304 for three wickets. The Sri Lankans who came into batting had a burden on their shoulders with the huge score to attack. Mahela Jayawardene (78) and Kumar Sangakkara (65) could only play under pressure while others became just tourists to the field. And finally wound up fby making 254 all out in the 45 over. Tremendous bowling efforts of Irfan Pathan who claimed 4 wickets need to be commended. His efforts were equally supported by R.Vinay Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin who hauled two wickets, each.
The Indian Captain M S Dhoni had words of praise for his team mates. Post match he said, “There were not many boundaries in the Virat-Gautam partnership but they did well to set up a base. It is a tough ground to defend with quick outfield. Hopefully it won't be as easy to bat in the second innings as it is now as the tournament goes on. It is not that we played badly against Sri Lanka (in Australia).”
Team India well set in the Asia Cup-2012. Probably this victory will be cherished well if the home team romps home with the cup. All its earlier failures also will be forgotten by the fans. But Sachin’s miracle seems to evade him off late and that worries the fans much. Because cricket is Sachin and Sachin is cricket as the fans uproar. (AarKay)
