By IANS
Adelaide : Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawerdena said he was hoping that his trump-card bowler Lasith Malinga would conjure up the World Cup magic that saw him take four Proteas wickets in as many balls, when Tuesday’s match against India was well-poised for a thrilling finish.
Express pacer Malinga created history when he became the first bowler to take four wickets in four successive deliveries against South Africa during the Caribbean World Cup last year. However, his feat was not good enough as Proteas sneaked through with a one-wicket win.
After the match Tuesday, Jayawerdena disclosed that the whole team was looking forward to Malinga repeating the spectacle. But it was not to be as Mahendra Singh Dhoni steered India to victory with five balls to spare and two wickets in hand.
“When I handed the ball to him (Malinga), I had in mind what he did in the World Cup. I was hoping that he gets the wickets. When you give him the ball with the tail-enders at the wicket, we are with a chance. He is special,” Jayawerdena said.
Malinga had Indian fans’ heart pounding when his swinging yorker trapped Harbhajan Singh in front in the penultimate over with India needing three runs to win, but young Ishant Sharma digged out the last two balls of that over and then skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni fetched the remaining runs in last over.
The Sri Lankan skipper also said that they would have liked to set a target of 280 for the Indians to chase but fell short.
“We were 50 runs short. We were going all right but lost some momentum at the end. We should have gone past 250 but the job got difficult after losing two wickets.”
Jayawardene lauded Yuvraj Singh for his explosive innings that set-up the match for India.
“Yuvraj played a good knock in the middle overs and then Dhoni finished off the job. Our boys fought but India played better today,” he said.