Champions Trophy Match 8: India vs Sri Lanka

Champions Trophy Match 8: India vs Sri Lanka: Scorecard

What on earth is going on here? Did India just go through the motions? Did Sri Lanka play dead? There seems no logical answer, except that India seemed to cruise to 6/321 in their opening fifty overs, and then Sri Lanka made it look like a training run when it appeared the result was a forgone conclusion the other way! Cricket again showed what a wonderfully unpredictable game it can be.

Certainly it can be said that India probably left a few runs in the shed. Following the opening partnership of 138 off 25 overs, Kohli's meek surrender robbed the middle overs of impetus that he could have provided. When Dhawan departed for 125 at 4/261 less than six overs remained, and only thanks to Dhoni and Jadhav did the Indians reach their final total. There was no ability to accelerate during the innings, and even though 321 even five years ago was a winning score four our of every five games and isn't as such anymore, the flurry at the end gave the impression that India would win this comfortably.

No one told Sri Lanka, and their young and rebuilding batting line up played as though they were unconcerned about who their opposition was supposed to be. Gunathilaka scored a run-a-ball 72 with ease, and Mendis did the same for 89. Both could only be dismissed by run outs, which showed the ineffectiveness of the Indian bowlers to either penetrate or contain. In the end it was a cakewalk. Even when Perera retired hurt with 47 off 44, skipper Mathews made 52 not out off 45 and Gunaratne 34 not out off 21, and with only 3 wickets down and 9 balls remaining the game was over. After all of their talk and bounce, India had been brought completely undone. It was wonderful to watch.

With both today's and yesterday's matches being won by the underdogs, it now means that the final matches in Group B are essentially quarter finals, with the winners going through to the semi-finals. Even more fascinating is that it means that one of the favourites, India or South Africa, will now miss out. How good is cricket?