The T20 World Cup continues in the Indian subcontinent in 2014, with Bangladesh playing hosts after Sri Lanka two years earlier. Sangakkara bid farewell to Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene with a title. Dhaka, Chittagong, and Sylhet were the sites of competition where Sri Lanka ultimately reigns supreme.
T20 World Cup in three editions :-
Sri Lanka was knocking at the door in the T20 World Cup in the last three editions but was denied. They were runners-up in 2009 and 2012 and reached the semi-finals in 2010. In the 2014 edition, Sri Lanka proved to be the judges with a strong bowling lineup of Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis.
The 2014 edition featured 16 teams – more than ever before – with 10 full-time members as the Associates by Afghanistan, Netherlands, UAE, Nepal, Ireland, and Hong Kong. Two from the group stage made Super 10 a part of the event.
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The first post saw Bangladesh and the Netherlands move ahead of Group A and Group B, ahead of Afghanistan and Test-playing Zimbabwe. Group B saw the Netherlands, Zimbabwe, and Ireland with four points each, but it was the Dutch who made it through on the back of a better net run rate.
Sangakkara bid farewell to Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene with a title
Group 1 consists of Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand, England and the Netherlands. India, West Indies, Pakistan, Australia, and Bangladesh are in Group 2.
Ultimate champions Sri Lanka topped Group 1 with three wins out of four, one losing to England. In their second outing, Sri Lanka dismissed them for just 39 through the Netherlands – the lowest score in a T20 World Cup – with Angelo Mathews and Mendis taking three wickets each.
They were knocked out by South Africa, who also posted three wins, but had a very low net run rate.
In the second group, the tournament was underway with India vs Pakistan, and the Men in Blue topping the table. Under MS Dhoni’s captaincy, India surpassed all four of their opponents, including a thumping 73-run victory over Australia.
Sri Lanka in the semi-finals :-
Sri Lanka in the first semi-final against the West Indies and South Africa in the second against India.
In Dhaka, Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat. Kusal Perera and Tillakaratne Dilshan got them off to a great start and were dismissed for 41 in the fourth over. But the quick wickets of Perera, Jayawardene, and Kumar Sangakkara put the brakes on.
This helped West Indies that Dilshan ran to Jayawardene and was later dismissing himself. Till then, Dilshan remained immovable in the middle, though only scoring a ball with Lahiru Thirimanne. He added 42 runs to take Sri Lanka from 49/3 to 91/3.
West Indies went with a hope and watch attitude. A strategy to take your time before you go hammer and tongs afterward. The extra didn’t work for his plan and the Sri Lankan bowlers choked him with power. And if that wasn’t enough.
Sangakkara bid farewell to Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene with a title
17 run was scoring in the first over and the next six too. Dwayne Bravo did the pace-boosting sequence, which he did, but missed one and went into the 14th over.
In The second semi-final :-
In Dhaka too, India chased down a target of 173 with six wickets in five balls. Virat Kohli once again brightened his credentials as a peak chaser with a 44-ball 72. Rohit Sharma (24), Ajinkya Rahane (32), Yuvraj Singh (18), and Suresh Raina (21) all scored crucial runs.
Batting first, South Africa scored a massive 172 runs on the board, aided by Faf du Plessis (58), JP Duminy (45), and David Miller (23), with only R Ashwin working for India. (3/22) while the rest of the bowlers had a bad day.
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The defeat extended South Africa’s dangerous record in knockout matches at ICC events to 14 years. For India, it was another semi-final victory under Dhoni’s guidance and restricted South Africa to their first T20I defeat except to score over 170.
But it was Virat Kohli who became the man of the match not only by outscoring the rest but also by speeding up his innings completely. He scored 56 runs with Yuvraj and completed his third half-century in four innings. And for the icing on the cake, the winning runs scored.
