Sri Lanka’s press was distraught on Monday after the host nation lost the World Twenty20 final against the West Indies, with criticism focused on the team’s record of crumbling under pressure. Millions of fans had prayed that Mahela Jayawardena’s side would not choke in the Colombo clash, but the result was the fourth defeat for the country in major tournament finals since 2007. “Silence of the Lion,” said the privately-run Ceylon Today. “West Indies carry out their threat and dance on a Sri Lankan graveyard.” “Samuels pummels chokers,” said the Daily Mirror in a reference to Marlon Samuels who won the man of the match award, making 78 runs off 56 balls. “Sri Lanka strengthened their tag as the big-game chokers, losing to the same team they crushed by nine wickets with 28 balls to spare in the Super Eight round,” the paper added. The privately-run Island newspaper thought one culprit in the humiliating defeat was Lasith Malinga, who gave away 54 runs in four overs and collected no wickets. “The best bowler in the shortest form of the game miserably failed to live up to expectations in the biggest cricket spectacle hosted in (Sri Lanka’s) history,” it said. Sri Lanka had started off well and it was “heartbreaking” for 35,000 fans inside the stadium, the paper said. Twitter and Facebook chatter pointed to President Mahinda Rajapakse’s presence at the R. Premadasa stadium as a possible jinx on the home side. Rajapakse had told journalists he was in two minds about going to the finals because his presence at two previous World Cup finals had ended in defeat.
Sri Lanka not ruthless enough: Jayawardene
COLOMBO
AFP
Sri Lanka’s captain Mahela Jayawardene admitted his team choked in the World Twenty20 final against the West Indies, denying themselves a long-awaited title.
“When we were put under pressure, we did not react well,” Jayawardene said after the hosts crashed to a 36-run defeat in Sunday’s final in front of 35,000 stunned fans at the Premadasa stadium.
Having restricted the West Indies to a modest 137-6, Sri Lanka fell woefully short with the bat and were out for 101 in 18.4 overs in a match they were favoured to win.
It was Sri Lanka’s fourth successive loss in a major final, having stumbled twice in the title clash of the 50-over World Cups in 2007 and 2011 and also in the World Twenty20 in 2009.
Jayawardene, who announced after the final that he was stepping down as Twenty20 captain, was “disappointed and hurt” at not being able to replicate the country’s 50-over World Cup triumph in 1996. “As a team we gave everything we had,” he said. “We wanted to win a big tournament to give something to the fans who have been cheering us.”We just did not execute a good game plan and we were not ruthless enough. We are very disappointed that we could not give the fans what they wanted, and that hurts a lot. “We need to sit together, have a chat on what went wrong and then move on.” Jayawardene said the all-round effort by Marlon Samuels, who smashed 78 off 56 balls and took 1-15 from four steady overs of off-spin, took the game away from Sri Lanka. Samuels’ hit six sixes and three fours to lift his team to 105 runs in the last 10 overs after they were reduced to 32-2 from the first 10. “In the pressure situations we could not control the match,” said Jayawardene. “Samuels batted really well and he took it away from us a little bit. “We did not react well when we were put under pressure. When those small mistakes add up, that’s where you lose a match like a final, and that’s what happened to us.
