Being the underdogs took the pressure off us

Sadly for a lot of people, particularly Indians, the 1996 World Cup is probably best remembered for our chaotic semifinal match against India at the Eden Gardens.

I admit that Indian fans must have felt devastated at the way things ended, so the anger was perhaps justified.

However, we were in the final, and at that point we were not thinking of much else, though the guys felt sorry for the Indian players.

Going into the tournament, we were relative underdogs, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because there was no pressure on us whatsoever.

It was a huge achievement in itself to have even reached the semifinals, forget the final.

We opened against Zimbabwe at Colombo, and posted a comfortable six-wicket win. However, this was our opening match by default. The actual opener was supposed to have been played against Australia at Colombo again, but the political situation prompted Australia and the West Indies to stay away from Sri Lanka.

Growing in stature

We then met India in New Delhi, and it was a fairly high-scoring affair. Sachin Tendulkar with a brilliant 137 contributed to India's total of 271, which we overhauled with six wickets in hand thanks to Sanath (76 off 79 deliveries), Arjuna (46) and Hashan (70).

When we travelled back to Sri Lanka for our last group match, against Kenya at Kandy, we could see how, thanks to the first World Cup on Sri Lankan soil, cricket was rapidly growing in stature. And that made the absence of Australia and the West Indies all the more unfortunate for the fans.

Thankfully, PILCOM organised a Sri Lanka v Rest of Asia match at the last minute, and we were very grateful to the Asian players for showing the world that the situation in Sri Lanka was not as bad as it was made out.

And that was the reason why, when the crowd erupted at Eden, we felt truly sorry for the Indian team. They had shown solidarity in our hour of need, and it felt bad to see them in such a situation.

We topped the group owing to the points awarded to us from the forfeited West Indies and Australia matches, and before the quarterfinal against England, I remember telling Arjuna that if we won it, we could actually go all the way. And we won it in style, thanks mainly to an incredible innings from Sanath, who tore into the English attack so ferociously (82 off 44 balls) that they were virtually stunned into submission.

Obviously, the kind of batting that we saw from Sanath against England cannot be seen every day, and we were prepared for the odd poor start as well.

The final was a great opportunity for the team, mainly the seniors, to banish a few ghosts from the past. It helped that the opponents were Australia. Their refusal to play in Sri Lanka still rankled, but it was mainly our Australian tour of 1995 that had given us the motivation to defeat the Aussies, or die trying. As you probably remember, it was in Australia in 1995 that Murali was first called for a suspect action, and the unpleasantness of that tour had brought the team closer together.

Studies in contrast

Australia got off to a good start at Lahore, and had progressed from 36 for 1 to 137 for 2 before I got Mark Taylor's wicket. I had been thinking up bowling ideas for myself from the very start of the match, and received excellent support and suggestions from the seniors. The three wickets that I eventually bagged ought to be credited to them more than to me.

Chasing down Australia's modest 241, we were in trouble at 23 for 2. I was in good form, and absolutely hell-bent on beating Australia. My partnerships with Asanka and Arjuna were studies in contrast. I always adapted my batting style to suit my partners, so with Asanka I hit out more, while with Arjuna I concentrated on rotating the strike.

At the end of the match, inside the dressing room, the first thing we did was pray. And then we partied for two days.

- Gameplan