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But Sourav Ganguly disagreed.
Asked whether a shared trophy fairly reflected
the balance of the game, he said: "No,
I don't think so. The wicket was slow but
was not turning a great deal and we started
well
but you can't do anything when
it rains."
Thus the richest purse in the history of
cricket, a total of USD $300,000, was split
between the two sides in addition to the
USD $225,000 already accrued after victories
in the pool and semi-final stages. Not bad
for two days' soggy cricket.
In the afternoon India had grabbed an early
advantage in the game when Jayasuriya finally
failed after a remarkable string of scores
stretching back to the start of the Morocco
Cup last month - 36, 102*, 71, 46, 97, 49,
36, 42 and 74. Indeed, the left-hander looked
shocked when he dragged the first ball of
the match on to his stumps.
Had Dinesh Mongia held on to a sharp two-handed
chance at slip off Kumar Sangakkara in the
same Zaheer Khan over, Sri Lanka would have
been in far deeper trouble. As it was, Mongia
redeemed himself when he caught Marvan Atapattu
- asked to bat at number three to allow
Sangakkara a chance against the harder ball
- off an outswinger from Ajit Agarkar to
leave Sri Lanka on 24 for two.
Aravinda de Silva, having already bid his
farewell to Sri Lankan fans yesterday, looked
set to produce a fitting encore as he launched
a thrilling attack in Agarkar's fifth over,
smashing five boundaries and stirring a
healthy reserve crowd. But De Silva's urge
to dominate, exhilarating as it was, proved
fatal as he tried to slog-sweep the recalled
Anil Kumble over mid-wicket to be dismissed
for a 24-ball 27.
Three overs later Sangakkara was run out
after being belatedly sent back by Mahela
Jayawardene and Sri Lanka, on 71 for four,
pulled back onto the defensive. Both Jayawardene
and Russel Arnold stagnated as only 66 runs
were scored in the next 20 overs.
But, gradually, Jayawardene started to gather
momentum, passing fifty for the 15th time
in his one-day career. The pair extended
their partnership to 118 from 173 balls
before Jayawardene top edged a catch into
the covers. Arnold then scrambled together
some useful late runs with Chaminda Vaas
and, in the end, Sri Lanka would have been
satisfied with the fact that 95 runs had
been scored in the last 15 overs
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