Published Date: 20 June 2009
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara hailed Tillakaratne Dilshan as a "pioneering strokemaker" after the opener batted his side into the World Twenty20 final.
Dilshan's 96 not out was only five fewer than the West Indies managed for the loss of all 10 wickets in last night's semi-final at The Oval.
He took only 57 balls over his knock, the highest of the tournament to date, as he led Sri lanka to 158-5 having been inserted by Chris Gaile.Three wickets from Angelo Mathews in the first over of the reply, at the cost of a single run, then put the Windies on the road to a crushing defeat.
Muttiah Muralitharan weighed in with three wickets of his own while Ajantha Mendis recorded remarkable figures of 4-0-9-2.
Afterwards Sangakkara was full of praise for Dilshan, saying: "I've run out of superlatives to describe him.
"He's been a pioneering strokemaker in the T20 World Cup and I think the best thing about him for us as a side is over the past year and a half he's understood his role, he's become very responsible and very mature and finally come to understand how just good he is.
"(It was a) fantastic knock, greatly supported by all the other guys around him: Sanath (Jayasuriya) again, a great start; Angelo Mathews, Chamara Silva in the middle and it's a great team effort."
Sangakkara admitted conditions played into his side's hands.
"The ball was not really coming on, probably not a typical Oval wicket," he said.
"We expected it to be a lot better and come on really well but this was a perfect pitch for us – batting first, putting up a good total and really turning the screws on the West Indies.
"We've got a great bowling attack and all of them are thinking cricketers so hopefully we can go one more step in this tournament."
West Indies captain Gayle was upbeat in defeat, congratulating his players for reaching the penultimate round rather than dwell on their performance in it.
"I was really happy with the guys for the performance to reach the semi-final" he said.
"Hopefully we can use it for a learning experience and next time around we can actually be strong."
Talks will take place today aimed at ending the dispute between the ICC and the Pakistan Cricket Board over the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
A preliminary meeting yesterday between ICC president David Morgan, vice-president Sharad Pawar and PCB chairman Ijaz Butt has paved the way for a round of talks at the Oval between the four host nations for the tournament, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to determine where games will be played.
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