Are Sri Lanka the new 'chokers'?

Cricket is often considered a very dynamic sports in which the match situation can change any time. And this sort of characteristic of this gentleman’s game is very well know by one team and that is South Africa. They are called the chokers of all time, as they fail to rise to the occasion when it matters the most and stumble often at those precious moments rather than stamping authority. But now giving them a fight for their ‘chokers’ tag are the Sri Lankans.

Today after losing the final of the world T20 2012 in their homeland after playing so well through out the tournament, Sri Lanka have now lost four world cup finals, more than any other team in the history of the game, starting from the 50 over World Cup in 2007 in West Indies. The other two occasions being the World T20 2009 against Pakistan in England and 50 over World Cup 2011 against India in India.

The first of their World Cup losses came in West Indies in 2007 as Sri Lanka were mauled by one of the most destructive innings played by Adam Gilchrist, scoring 149 off just 104 balls and lived up to the reputation of the ruthless Aussies in the crunch games. Sri Lanka were very good throughout the tournament, winning 9 of the 11 matches (excluding final) of the tournament. Even with likes of Jayasuriya, Jayawardene, Sangakkara in batting and Vaas, Murali and Malinga in bowling the team was unable to give a fight to the stronger Australian team.

After India took the first world T20 title in 2007, Sri Lanka and Pakistan were vying for the title in its second edition and Sri Lanka were handed a defeat by the consistent team of this short format. As like the previous 50 over WC, Sri Lanka were undefeated until the final with almost the same set of players. And the man who made it difficult for the islanders was the all rounder Shahid Afridi after their top performer of the tournament, Dilshan, was out for a duck in the first over of the game.

Come year 2011, the sub continent, a cricket mad region of the world, was abuzz with the 50 over cricket world cup being hosted by its three countries and the tournament was at its peak. The final saw the two host nations India and Sri Lanka battle it out in Mumbai. The match was nicely set up for the grand finish with a century from the Sri Lankan batting mainstay Mahela Jayawardene. But the strong batting line up of Indians had other ideas as Dhoni and co. completed the run chase in style and again the team which returned empty hand was Sri Lanka.

The final segment of this chokers saga is the loss against the best T20 side of the world, West Indies, in this year’s world T20. Like previous instances, the Sri Lankan team was above other teams before the tournament, winning every game of the group and super eight stage (apart from the 7 over match against SA), but failed to get past the final hurdle once again as they lost the final after being in a very good position in the first half, and were unable to seize the moment. Spoiling their party this time around was Marlon Samuels who hit 6 sixes in his innings to swung the match back in his team’s favour. This time Sri Lanka were also unable to take advantage of their home conditions and crowd support as they faltered at their fourth final of a cricket World Cup in the past 5 years.

Though the Sri Lankans are better than the Proteas, who don’t even make it to the finals of the tournaments in spite of a very good team on paper, this fourth final loss is a thing of worry for the islanders. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, each of whom led twice in these four losses, have been the backbone of Sri Lankan cricket but time has come for other talented players of their team to rise to the big occasions and give their nation a cricket world title after 1996.