A target of 250 seemed even. But when Sri Lanka set India 255 to get in 50 overs, the Rediff.com expert felt that the match had gone slightly Sri Lanka's way.
Robin Uthappa and Sourav Ganguly therefore came out to face Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga with a Pressure Index (PI) of 105.
As Uthappa opened up with a few clean hits against Vaas, the PI practically dipped slightly to the 100-mark. It looked like anybody's match at that point! But then Vaas took that stunning return catch to dismiss Uthappa and the PI climbed to 116.
Virender Sehwag continued to attack Vaas and was probably doing the job even better than Uthappa. That's when Ganguly felt this sudden urge to loft Vaas somewhere himself. He only found a diving Muttiah Muralitharan; also intent, apparently, on conveying a strong message about his fielding prowess to his coach Tom Moody. As Ganguly walked back the PI had risen to 125.
When Sachin Tendulkar starts defending with that exaggerated front foot movement there's usually big trouble ahead. Dilhara Fernando soon uprooted his leg stump and India's PI soared to 144.
Rahul Dravid and Sehwag did what they could best; Sehwag even hit a six. At 98/3 in the 23rd over one sensed a chance as India's PI dropped to 120.
But then Sehwag fell to Murali, to send the PI up to 138, Yuvraj Singh was tragically run out and MS Dhoni reportedly walked after he was trapped leg before wicket by Murali. At 112/6, and a PI of 165, Sri Lanka had it all wrapped up.
Dravid wasn't giving up yet as he hit four desperate boundaries in one over, and Ajit Agarkar surprised everyone, including perhaps himself, by surviving in the middle for so long. But it wasn't to be Agarkars or India's day, which one had perhaps feared after Agarkar's very first ball or else how could umpire Daryl Harper walk away so disdainfully from a plumb lbw appeal?
Sunil T of Cranes Software helped create this pressure map based on the details retrieved from the Rediff scorer
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