Sri Lanka marked their Silver Jubilee celebrations of winning the 1996 Cricket World Cup in March this year.
And on April 6, the country celebrated another significant triumph in their historic achievements as they marked the seventh anniversary of winning the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh.
 Kumar Sangakkara is carried by his teammates |
Sri Lanka led by Lasith Malinga defeated India by six wickets in the final played in Mirpur, Bangladesh.
The Indian Team led by M. S. Dohni were the favourites to win the title with their strong batting line-up which included Rohit Sharma, Virat Kholi, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina.
However, Sri Lanka with a good bowling line-up restricted the Indians to 130 for four wickets in 20 overs.
Kulasekara, Malinga and Herath took one wicket each but more importantly all the bowlers were able to finish their overs while conceding under 30 runs.
Kumar Sangakkara led the run chase with an unbeaten 52 in 35 balls inclusive of six fours and one six while Mahela Jayawardene made a valuable 24 in 24 balls with four fours. Thisara Perera struck the winning runs with a six off Ravichandran Ashwin in the 17 th over as Sri Lanka celebrated a magnificent victory. It was a special moment for Jayawardene and Sangakkara as both veterans decided to call it a day on their T20I careers after the 2014 T20 World Cup. Sangakkara won the Man-of-the- Match Award for playing a vital role in their success.
But Sangakkara felt Malinga and Kulasekara played a crucial role in Sri Lanka’s success.
Describing how the two Sri Lankan pacers restricted India to 130 for four in the first innings, Sangakkara said: “The best death bowling that I have ever seen in my life.”
“I have seen Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram bowl in the death but the overs from Kulasekara and Malinga to two of the biggest hitters and two of the best finishers in the shorter version, I have never seen anything like that before or since.”
“Twenty-four yorkers on the spot, ball after ball. Walking into the dressing room after that, we knew the momentum was with us.”
“The 2014 ICC T20 World Cup in Bangladesh was very special. I have said every tournament is special but this was much more so because it was going to be my last T20 World Cup. It was going to be Jayawardene’s last T20 World Cup.”
“This was quite an emotional game for Mahela and myself, because it was our last game in Sri Lankan colours in this particular format.”
Sangakkara stated India were 115 for two when Malinga came in to bowl the innings’ 18th over.
A well-settled Kohli was with Yuvraj in the middle then. While fans expected India to finish around the 150-mark, Malinga and Kulasekara conceded a mere 15 runs in the last three overs. Earlier in 2009 and 2012 Sri Lanka reached the T20 World Cup finals but finished as runners-up.
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