Sri Lanka prepared to throw its biggest party since the end of the country’s ethnic conflict after beating India in the final of cricket’s World T20 tournament, officials said yesterday.
Cricket officials said arrangements were being made for a ticker-tape parade in central Colombo today after an outpouring of jubilation in a country that has been at war for much of its post-independence
history.
The victory on Sunday night in Dhaka came 18 years after Sri Lanka’s triumph in the 50-over World Cup, which had been followed by a series of defeats in the finals of major tournaments.
An official source said the authorities tried to fly the national team home yesterday, but logistical issues prevented an early celebration.
“We arranged two charter flights to take fans to Dhaka for the finals and there are no seats onboard those aircraft for the team to return,” a cricket official said. “Getting another aircraft has not been easy.”
Sri Lanka’s cricket board (SLC) said it planned to hold a press conference at the airport today before driving the team in an open top bus to their main office and on to downtown Colombo where tens of thousands of fans are expected to give the players a heroes’ welcome.
The team is also due to call on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, officials said.
Newspapers hailed the victory as a “fitting farewell” to a golden generation, including former skippers Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara who have already announced their retirement from T20 cricket.
Pundits also joked that the victory was only made possible by President Rajapakse’s decision to stay away from the final after he had apparently “jinxed” the team in previous
tournaments.
On the eve of the final, the board announced the team would get a $1mn bonus if it could finally throw off its
reputation for choking.
But veteran cricket commentator Ranjan Paranavithana bemoaned the prospect of local administrators claiming credit for the team’s spirited performance after a series of management and pay disputes.
“Loads of empty heads will be at SLC taking photographs with the trophy and the players,” Paranavithana said on his blog.
The Daily Mirror newspaper said the victory was a dream come true for the country’s two best players who will now concentrate only on Test match and 50 over cricket.
Sangakkara top-scored with a quickfire 52 while Jayawardene weighed in with a run-a-ball 24.
“Sangakkara and Jayawardene ended their T20 international careers with a dream script, playing the team’s best two innings as Sri Lanka ended their world title drought in style,” the paper said.
Rajapakse phoned team members and officials to congratulate them shortly after the six-wicket win which triggered an outpouring of joy unseen in Sri Lanka since the crushing of the Tamil Tiger separatist fighters in
May 2009.
Motorists in the cricket-mad country took to the streets tooting their horns and waving the national Lion flag, while fireworks lit up the sky throughout the night.
Fans said the team may have thanked Rajapakse for being absent after he watched them lose the last World T20 tournament — hosted by Sri Lanka in 2012 - and their defeats in the final of the 2007 and 2011 World Cups.
“Given bad omens of the past, Sri Lankan fans wished President Mahinda Rajapakse to watch the hot final from Sri Lanka (rather) than from Mirpur, Bangladesh,” the private Daily FT paper said.
“Thankfully”, the president was busy opening a five-star hotel outside Colombo, the paper said.
Fruit seller suffers heart attack after betting on India
A Sri Lankan fruit seller suffered a massive heart attack and died after he lost a $300 bet that India would win the cricket World T20 tournament, police said yesterday.
S P Kumara placed the Rs40,000 bet on the eve of Sunday’s final, wrongly predicting that Sri Lanka would repeat its “choking” performance at three previous international tournaments and lose to India.
“He had gone to a bookmaker at Gampaha (town) and placed a fairly large bet on an Indian win and watched the match from there,” a local police official said.
“When Sri Lanka won the match, he could not believe it.”
It was the second time the vendor had backed the wrong team.
Police said he bet $1,100 on Sri Lanka to clinch the last World T20 title in 2012, only to see his home country lose to the West Indies.
Sri Lanka beat India by six wickets in Dhaka on Sunday.
The vendor collapsed and was pronounced dead on admission to hospital in Gampaha just outside Colombo, said the police official who declined to be named.
An inquest yesterday was told that the man had no known medical condition, and police suspect the shock of losing the bet triggered the heart attack.
