Mendis magic mauls India; Sri Lanka lift Asia Cup Karachi,
July 06 Zeecric Bureau
Although the final pair of Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha offered some resistance to the Lankans, it was not sufficient to take the Indians home. Kulasekara took the last wicket in the form of Ishant Sharma by castling him to bring an end to the Asia Cup championship. Sri Lanka beat India by 100 runs to lift the Asia Cup trophy for the fourth time, Mendis being the hero of the day for Lanka and not so for India. The right arm spinner devastated the powerhouse of batting and made it look less than ordinary.
After the brilliant start given by Virender Sehwag, even Mendis would not have thought such an end to the final. He was awarded the man-of-the-match for his six for 13 in six overs. He was also the man-of-the-series for taking 17 wickets in the tournament. Only Sehwag and Dhoni had respectable scores to their names. They scored 60 and 49 respectively.
For a change it was Chaminda Vaas who struck and not Ajantha Mendis. What a relief! Vaas dismissed Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni when he had him caught behind for 49 into the hands of Kumara Sangakkara standing up at the stumps. This was his second wicket of the match. It is just a matter of time when the cricket lovers will see Sri Lanka lift the shining trophy and retain their title of defending champions of Asia.
The Indian batsmen really seemed to have no answer to Ajantha Mendis and it was pretty visible in the way Irfan Pathan edged one of his deliveries to the slip fielder and skipper Mahela Jayawardene. Pathan’s wicket gave Mendis his first five wicket haul in One-Day Internationals. He then uprooted RP Singh’s stumps off the very next ball to take his sixth wicket of the match and put Sri Lanka within sniffing distance of victory. This is the second time that Mendis struck twice in an over.
Muttiah Muralitharan spun a vicious web around Robin Uthappa and struck him on his pads right in front of the wicket to result in the fall of the sixth Indian wicket. India seemed to be staring at defeat with Sri Lanka having all chances to demolish India. Uthappa worked hard for his 20 runs but could not capitalize on it. He wasted a golden opportunity to take India home from a problematic situation. Irfan Pathan came to the crease to accompany skipper MS Dhoni. A miracle will be needed if India are to lift the Asia Cup trophy as Lanka look all set to retain their title.
Mendis it was again who struck for Sri Lanka catching Rohit Sharma plumb in front of the wicket leaving India reeling with half the team back in the pavilion. Sharma perished in an attempt to play Mendis across the line. Rohit Sharma became the right arm spinner’s fourth victim of the match. India will have to evade Mendis if they have to even think of clawing back in the match.
Ajantha Mendis proved to be the saviour for Sri Lanka and the devastator for India as he struck in his third over again to pack up Suresh Raina for just 16 runs. This put India on the back foot and the scorecard read 93 for the loss of four wickets at the time of Raina’s departure. Poor shot selection off a skiddy delivery on middle stump and Raina could see his stumps shattered

Rising costs to dominate G8 talks
Japan has deployed some 20,000 police to seal off the summit venue Rising food and fuel prices are to top the agenda for leaders of the world's most industrialised nations who are beginning a key summit in Japan.
The hosts had hoped climate change would be a key issue at the meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) nations but the global economy is sure to dominate.
At the opening lunch, African leaders will set out the effect price rises are having on the world's poorest people.
The summit is also expected to tackle the difficult issue of Zimbabwe.
Food focus
The G8 summit is being held at a resort on the northern island of Hokkaido.
Japan has spent a record sum of money and deployed about 20,000 police to seal off the remote lakeside town of Toyako for the three-day talks.
Focus on food, fuel and financeJapanese island locks downCharity in sanitation plea
The impact on the global economy of price rises and other shocks such as the credit crunch have eclipsed other concerns, correspondents says.
The BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, who is travelling to the summit with the UK prime minister, says Gordon Brown will join other leaders in calling for the doubling of food production in Africa.
Our correspondent says the G8 may call for the creation of a panel of international experts to advise on how to predict and hopefully avoid another crisis like this.
The EU has already been spelling out plans to alleviate the food crisis.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters on the sidelines of the summit the proposed 1bn euro ($1.6bn, $800m) fund to help poor farmers in developing countries would come from unused EU subsidies. The best way to help the impoverished around the world is through trade
US President George W Bush
G8 summit: The key issuesAction urged on childbirth deaths
The Group of Eight consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
They will be joined by leaders from some 15 other countries, including eight African states.
As well as discussing development issues in Africa, the G8 leaders are widely expected to condemn Robert Mugabe's controversial re-election in Zimbabwe last month.
As he headed to the summit, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he would discuss the crisis with African leaders there.
Zimbabwe's political parties should "work out an arrangement so that they can really bring back democratic rules, the rule of law and peace and stability in their country", he told the French news agency AFP.
Malaysia summit
A number of other bilateral meetings are taking place on the sidelines of the summit.
Mr Bush, attending his last G8 summit, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, attending his first, are expected to discuss the US plan for missile defence installations in the Czech Republic and Poland.
HAVE YOUR SAY Why not talk about stopping the wars in the world, as most of the G8 countries manufacture and supply the weapons Geoff Berry, Bolton, UKSend us your commentsMr Brown will also have talks with Mr Medvedev. Relations between the two countries have been uneasy since the Russian agent turned dissident Alexander Litvinenko was murdered in London two years ago.
Meanwhile, the charity Water Aid has told the G8 that the single most effective measure it could take to prevent the deaths of millions of children in poor countries would be to build toilets and provide clean water.
Hundreds of protesters again marched through Sapporo on Sunday, the city closest to the venue, on the eve of the talks to demand G8 leaders take action on global warming, poverty and rising food prices.
The demonstration, which followed a similar protest on Saturday, was heavily policed and ended peacefully.
Violent anti-globalisation marches have marred past G8 meetings.
As the G8 got under way in Japan, leaders of the world's largest Islamic nations assembled for what is being billed as the D8 summit in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, with the issue of inflation high on the agenda there.