Jayasuriya faced a sorry plight

Needless to say, luck plays a big role in Twenty20. A dropped chance or a missed run out can tilt fortunes. And that's what happened in the first match of the Twenty20 World Cup between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

A thrilling finish is what cricket fans look forward to from the start of a tournament. It lures everyone into the game and encourages them to follow the fortunes of all teams in the event.

Needless to say, luck plays a big role in Twenty20. A dropped chance or a missed run out can tilt fortunes. And that's what happened in the first match of the Twenty20 World Cup between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Lasith Malinga missed two run out chances as the Lankans failed to lift their game at the right time. Despite their good bowling attack, they failed to grab chances that came their way.

Sri Lanka's history of victories in instant cricket reveals that a whirlwind start is what guides them to victory in most occasions. Their 1996 World Cup triumph was mainly due to the hurricane start from their openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana. The first 15 overs were a treat to watch with both playing unbelievable shots.

But in this match, Sri Lanka mustered only 35 runs in the first six overs with out-of-form Tillakaratne Dilshan consuming 19 balls to score three runs.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara is fully aware that Dilshan managed only 44 runs from six innings for Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League and was even dropped from the team. So he should have asked Dilshan to bat down the order or ensured some of his lower order batsmen went for their shots to accelerate the run rate. It was a sorry plight to see their hardest hitting batsman, Jayasuriya, left with no balls to play and remain unbeaten on zero.

Eye-opener

Short and quick knocks are vital in a Twenty20 format. And New Zealand did just that. They too had their star batsman Brendon McCullum falling for a duck but sprightly knocks from Jacob Oram and Nathan McCullum titled the match in their favour.
For Sri Lanka, this defeat can be an eye-opener. They must realise that being good on paper is not enough and that everyone must chip in with some powerful shots if a long innings is not possible.

Let's not be surprised if, from the next match, we get to see their old war horse Jayasuriya open the innings again. Time and again he has proved that old is gold and if he glitters with the bat now then all his opponents may have to run for cover.