The Murderer from Matara

              It was March 2nd in the year 1996. Many Indian cricket fans do not remember the date but if they hear the following words they will surely recollect what I am talking about

             Sanath Jayasuriya | Manoj Prabhakar | Feroz Shah Kotla| Defeat | 4 overs for 47

       I am sure most of you remember that I am talking about the league match between India and Sri Lanka at the Feroz Shah Kotla in the 1996 Wills World Cup. It wasn’t any knock-out match as such but whenever India plays Sri-Lanka scenes from this match usually flash through any Indian cricket fan’s memory. Especially if the fan was a high school student like me in 1996. Well, let me go years down the memory lane now.

         It was a Saturday and the school was over. I with couple of my friends rushed to the school canteen to find out the score of the India Sri Lanka match. It was around the 40th over. India was batting. Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin were at the crease. India was doing pretty well. I heard a few voices saying that India had a very slow start and a look at the scorecard confirmed that. Manoj Prabhakar opening the innings with Sachin had made 7 off 36 balls.

          Sachin Tendulkar was at his best in the last few overs. It was extremely well paced innings with a steady start and accelerating towards the end with the last 37 runs coming off a mere 15 balls. Azhar played the support-act well made a useful 70 off 80 balls.  Ravindra Pushpakumara was hit for 23 runs in the final over and India made 271. I was thrilled to see Sachin bat the way he did. I can still remember how we shouted for each boundary that he had hit.  Little did we know what lay in store for us.

       I started from school and wanted reach home as soon as possible. I missed the bus and so started walking towards home.  On the way, I stopped to have a samosa at a shop. The shop keeper didn’t seem in the best of moods and as I glanced into his T.V set I soon found out the reason. I was shell-shocked when I saw that Sri Lanka was 42 in 3 overs. For a moment I wondered if there was something wrong. Perhaps it was a highlights package or maybe there was something wrong with the scorecard. No…that was the truth. Jayasuriya and Kaluwitrana had broken loose and Sri Lanka made 50 in less than 5 overs.  My friend who was along with me reminded me of our sentiment of India doing well when we got busy in some other activity and stopped watching them.  Hoping for the best, I resumed my journey.

          Sri Lanka had made 100 for the loss of 1 wicket by the time I reached home.  They lost 4 wickets but Ranatunga and Tilekeratne ensured that they won.  Jayasuriya and his opening partner Kalu hit Prabhakar for 11 and 22 in his first 2 overs. It surely wasn’t Prabhakar’s day after making 7 off 36 balls earlier in the day.  He tried bowling off breaks later but ended up giving 47 in 4 overs. He never played for India again. Jayasuriya was finally dismissed after making 79 off 76 balls.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  I was cursing him for ruining our day and denying us the match and Tendulkar the man of the match award.  I am sure there were a million Indian hearts that watched the match in disbelief that day.

                   When I look back at Jayasuriya’s innings, I feel it was a path-breaking knock. Remember that the innings would have a great one even if was played in today’s T20 environment. But the fact that it came at a time when a slow and a steady start was the norm of the day made it very special. 270 in those days was a very good score. Sri Lanka chased it comfortably thanks to the mayhem by Jayasuriya upfront. That was just the start for Jayasuriya. He made a brilliant 82 off 44 balls that knocked out England.  A few days later, he made the fastest hundred and fastest fifty against Pakistan at Singapore. Sri Lanka had the wood over India for the next 2 years especially in the matches played in Sri Lanka. Each time India would struggle and score around 230-240 only to be chased by Sri Lanka with ridiculous ease. Jayasuriya on many occasions would be their hero. There have been many such knocks against India including the 98 in the recent Compaq Cup and each of them still reminds me of that day in Feroz Shah Kotla. Such is the effect of the Feroz Shah Kotla knock!

P.S - The image is taken from  http://blogs.abc.net.au