World Cup: This time, the choke is on Sri Lanka

In a reversal of character, Sri Lanka played the first quarterfinal of the 2015 ICC World Cup as if they were the ones that were under the burden of never having won a knockout match in a World Cup, The experience of being five-time finalists in ICC World events (2 WorldT20s and 3 ODI World Cups) was laid to waste by tentative batting, muddled thinking and a tight bowling performance by South Africa. What was expected to be a close match turned into a laugher. Winning the toss and batting was supposed to be the perfect template for Sri Lanka to put pressure on South Africa, who have buried teams when they have batted first. But in a sign of things to come, Kusal Perera walked out alongside Tillakaratne Dilshan instead of Lahiru Thirimanne. [caption id=“attachment_2160875” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AB de Villiers and De Kock appeal during the match. AFP[/caption] Kusal was all at sea against the swing and pace of Dale Steyn and Kyle Abbott. He swung, he missed. He swung again, and he edged. Like a punch-drunk prize fighter, he kept swinging away and was finally put out of his misery by Abbott. It raises the question: Why was Thirimanne, who had been doing a terrific job opening for Sri Lanka, pushed down the order to make way for a clearly off-colour Kusal? May be Sri Lanka thought they would surprise South Africa but all they ended up doing was hand the early advantage to their opposition. Once Steyn removed Dilshan with a peach, the Sri Lankan innings that was stuck in neutral shifted into reverse despite the best efforts of Thirimanne. Kumar Sangakkara, coming off four consecutive hundreds, batted like he had never held a bat before. It took him 16 deliveries to get off the mark, his second run came off the 23rd delivery he faced, and he was on 5 off 28, 15 off 51 and 17 off 55. Any initiative that Thirimanne was trying to wrest on the other end was sucked up by Sangakkara. The pressure of scoring for two batsmen eventually told on Thirimanne, who lobbed a catch back to Imran Tahir. Then, the innings went in to a free fall. Mahela Jayawardene, another Sri Lankan legend retiring from the game, struggled to get the ball off the square. For someone brought up on the subcontinental tracks playing endless array of spinners, Mahela could not pick Imran Tahir’s variations. In a frustrated attempt to attack the leggie, he only found short midwicket. Perhaps, the middle order was rusty from a lack of game time, but Sri Lanka truly did not look like a team that was going to amount any sort of challenge. Captain Angelo Mathews fell, in the face of mounting pressure of dot balls, and Sangakkara only chanced his arm – albeit not for long – well after the horse had bolted. A score of just 133 was going to be too easy for a side like South Africa, even with its history of choking in the big moments, to screw up. And Sri Lanka, once again, this time with the ball in hand, shot themselves in the foot. One doesn’t have to look any further than the 19 extras that Sri Lanka doled out in defense of a minuscule total, in just 18 overs. Malinga was erratic, when he wasn’t bowling no balls, the “mystery” debutant Tharindu Kaushal will stay a mystery. Rest of the bowlers just made up the numbers. People define a “choke” as stumbling at the threshold of success. It’s snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. After an ordinary start to the World Cup, Sri Lanka were getting their game in order. South Africa had stuttered through their campaign losing big to India and Pakistan, and dominating only when they batted first. So, this was a perfect opportunity for Sri Lanka. But they stumbled. The choke’s on them.