A title-winning performance?

Prem Panicker writes in his blog, Smoke signals, that the Player-of-the-Match award in the final of the Compaq Cup should have gone to the curator of the R Premadasa because the nature of the pitch was so influential in deciding the outcome. He says that it was not a Cup-winning performance from India, who were helped by the conditions to overcome Sri Lanka.

India in the field did its utmost to lose the game, and was foiled by prevailing conditions.

The fielders — Yusuf Pathan and Virat Kohli in particular — dropped sitters. MS Dhoni uncharacteristically [uncharacteristically not because he is the best keeper currently playing, but because his glove skills have visibly improved since his entry into international cricket, and he is now a 'safe' keeper] missed a relatively simple stumping off Raina.

The overall standard of ground fielding was ordinary at best, creating such confidence in the opposition that batsmen repeatedly ran singles to short positions on the on and off