Would have been tough for India had we put 320 runs in 2011 World Cup final, admits Angelo Mathews
Angelo Mathews, who missed out on the 2011 World Cup final owing to injury has stated that it would have been tough for the home side to chase down 320 runs in Wankhede on that night. On top of that, the all-rounder also admitted that the visitors were short by 20-30 runs after their first innings.
Two revered Asian sides fought it out in the 2011 World Cup final- India and Sri Lanka. Whilst the fans support and the crowd were behind the back of team India, Sri Lanka had the advantage of batting first in the high-pressure encounter. However, coming into the final, Sri Lanka were dealt a body blow when their all-rounder Angelo Mathews was ruled out with an injury.
After winning the toss, Kumar Sangakkara’s Sri Lankan team got themselves off to a poor start, with Upul Tharanga edging one off Zaheer Khan. However, the host of superstars in the Island nation’s side ensured that they did not give up on the encounter. Whilst Sangakkara fell two short of a half-century, his batting partner Mahela Jayawardene ensured he took Sri Lanka to a respectable total, scoring an unbeaten 103, as Sri Lanka put 274 runs on board. Mathews, however, recalling the fixture admitted that the visitors should have got themselves off to 320.
“I still feel that if we had gotten about 320, we could’ve given a good fight even against India’s strong batting lineup. Indian wickets are flat as roads and when a batsman gets going, it can be really tough to stop him. India had a gun batting lineup as well. Wankhede is not a massive stadium, but the ball stays hit when you hit it and the pitch was also good,” he told Anis Sajan on his Youtube chat show Cricket Unplugged, reported Crictracker.
On top of that, he also reckoned that the team had the chances in the second half to pull back the momentum and the tie in their favour. However, Gautam Gambhir’s integral partnership with Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni ensured that India were never behind the scoring rate, eventually winning the tie by 6 wickets, with ten balls remaining.
“We were short by about 20 to 30 runs. We had our chances, but Gautam (Gambhir) and Virat (Kohli) batted really well. Then, MS Dhoni joined them and finished it off. All in all, it was a good game,” he further added.
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