It was
a great moment for India – 2nd April 2011 – as millions watched, the
World Cup final ran into confusion
before the first ball was bowled. The coin had to be tossed twice ! after the
match referee Jeff Crowe said he had not heard Sri Lanka captain Kumar
Sangakkara's call the first time !!. The Wankhede Stadium was not yet filled to
its 33,000 capacity, and the noise was yet to reach its peak. Commentator Ravi
Shastri, who was hosting the toss, said it had fallen heads the first time. When MS
Dhoni threw up the coin again, Sangakkara called 'heads' and the coin fell Sri
Lanka's way.
Kumar
Sangakkara (captain of that World Cup side), Aravinda de Silva (chief
selector), and opening batsman Upul Tharanga were all summoned to appear before
a special investigation unit set up by Sri Lanka's sports ministry. They were
each questioned for hours. Mahela Jayawardene, who scored a hundred in that
game, was also due for questioning, but the investigation was halted before he
appeared before the unit, is the hot news now !!
2nd April 2011 turned
another cherished day as much as 25th June 1983 in the annals of Indian
Cricket. MS Dhoni created history
leading the team from the front, with a strong performance with the bat and
astutely marshalling his resources. His
leadership qualities assume greater significance for he backs his men strongly,
leads from the front, talks to people, does not spew emotions on the field and
above all is willing to accept the responsibility of all his actions and take
the blame. A man made of strong mind and
steely resolve. As he walked to the
podium he said : - "I took a quite
few decisions tonight, if we hadn't won I would have been asked quite a few
questions: Why no Ashwin, Why sreesanth. Why no Yuvraj, Why did I bat ahead?!
That pushed me and motivated to do well. The pressure had got to me in the
previous games. In this game, I wanted to bat up the order and Gary backed me
and by the senior players. I had a point to prove to myself. Virat and Gautam
batted brillantly; lots of singles. Then with the help of bit of dew , we put
pressure on the spinners. I would have liked Gautam to go on and get that big
hundred."
It was close to 11 pm and
perhaps the entire India was awake.
There were sounds of crackers, people shouting in happiness as Dhoni
received the trophy – the ICC World Cup was lifted – icons were getting lifted
– the stadium bustled and spectacular fire works were on. The cricket capital of India reverberated
and the capacity crowd witnessed a great match at Wankhede, established in
1974. The curator of the pitch was
Sudhir Naik, who represented India decades back without great success.
When we were expecting R
Ashwin, in the place of injured Ashish Nehra, it was Sreesanth who had a poor 5 over spell against Bangla in the
opening game. Lankans made sweeping changes
– Angelo Mathews, Rangana Herath, Chamara Silve and Ajanta Mendis were out – in
came – Perera, Randiv, Kulasekara and Chamara Kapugedera. Zaheer had it all – started with a 3 over
maiden spell, scalped Upul Tharanga and his first spell read 5-3-6-1 then was
clobbered for 35 in two overs in the powerplay, ended up at 60/2 off ten. A
classic century by the veteran Mahela Jayawardene, an ordinary bowling
performance ended up a decent score of 274.
Immediately after lunch,
at around 0650 pm – a hush descended at Wankhede. The slinger Malinga bowled to Virender Sehwag
who generally opens with a four off the first delivery. The first ball of the seventh over silenced
the Nation. The noise Wankhede went in
to a huddle. The ball moved got the
outside of Sachin and thudded into the gloves of Sanga. At that point 31/2, not
many were optimistic of India. Virat
Kohli played well with Gambhir but departed at 114 @ 21.4; still a long way to
go. A very well phased innings by
Gambhir, who unfortunately missed his century and his century partnership with
Dhoni enabled Indians pull off a great win. Dhoni wrapped it in style with 10 balls to go,
he sent the ball flying over long on for a huge six.
The Sri Lankan
Police today ended its investigation
into allegations that the country's 2011 World Cup final loss to India was
fixed, saying it found no evidence after recording statements of stalwarts like
Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.
Former sports
minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage had alleged that the final, which India won,
was fixed by "certain parties" leading to an inquiry by the Special
Investigation Division of the Police. "We will be sending a report to the
Secretary, Ministry of Sports who directed us. We have concluded the
investigation following an internal discussion held today", Jagath
Fonseka, police superintendent in charge of the special investigation unit on
prevention of offenses relating to sports, told reporters. According to
Fonseka, the 14-point allegations levelled by Aluthgamage, could not be
corroborated. "We see no reason why players must be further questioned",
Fonseka added.
Fonseka's
investigation unit interviewed Aravinda de Silva —the then chairman of
selectors —, Sangakkara, the captain at the final, Upul Tharanga, one of the
openers and Mahela Jayawardene. De Silva and Sangakkara, the sitting president
of the MCC, were quizzed for over six and 10 hours respectively by the police,
which led to protests outside SLC office on Thursday. Fonseka said the three
cricketers, who gave statements, had adequately explained the reasons for
sudden team changes in the final —one of
the accusations made by Aluthgamage.
The former
sports minister had raised doubts about four changes in team selection in the
final. The quizzing of players drew public ire and the former sports minister
was subjected to criticism for raising the issue after nine years of the event.
Aluthgamage claimed that he believed that players were not involved but
couldn't prove how could a match be fixed without involvement of the
participants.
Moving away,
a T20 match played near Chandigarh but
streamed online as a game in Sri Lanka has caught the attention of BCCI's
Anti-Corruption Unit, the Punjab Police and the island country's cricket board,
which has rejected any involvement and vowed to take legal action. The 'Indian Express' reported on Friday that
the game played on 29 June took place in Sawara village, 16 km from Chandigarh,
but was streamed as a 'Uva T20 League' match in Sri Lanka's Badulla city, home
of the Uva Province Cricket Association.
While Punjab Police officials said an investigation is currently on to
ascertain if a betting syndicate was involved, the BCCI asserted that it is
keeping an eye, but only to the extent of getting details of those involved.
The SLC, on the other hand, denied having any knowledge of the match ever being
planned in Sri Lanka.
Whether it
involved betting or not, whether there is some scam or not – how can a Cricket
match be allowed to be played during Covid 19 lockdown.
With regards
– S. Sampathkumar
3.7.2020.
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