It was thriller cricket. India went down by 12 runs. India were all out 13 runs short of Sri Lanka's total of 282 for 4 in the Asia Cup match. But the real problem is overconfidence and lack of concentration on the game by high priced Ganguli gang. The kind of hype and multi million-dollar attention on Indian players spelt imminent disaster. The players were busy doing commercial ads and becoming Government representatives. The defeat against Sri Lanka may be tip of the iceberg. 

Sri Lanka overpowered a fighting India by 12 runs in the last Group B league match of the Asia Cup at Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium here Sunday night. Both India and Sri Lanka, however, advance to the second round of the six-team tournament beginning Wednesday at Colombo. Pakistan and Bangladesh progressed from Group A and the four teams will now play a round robin league till July 29. The two top teams will contest the August 1 final. Chasing Sri Lanka's 282 for four wickets, made in their allocated 50 overs, India managed only 270 for eight wickets in their 50 overs despite Rahul Dravid's tremendous 82 (96 balls, 8x4s, 1x6) and Yuvraj Singh's 47 (78 balls, 4x4s). Earlier, Mahela Jayawardene scored an unbeaten 58 (49 balls, 3x4s, 1x6) while Kumara Sangakkara also batted well for his 57 (54 balls, 3x4s, 1x6) as all the top five Sri Lankan batsmen got runs to set up an asking rate of 5.66 run per over for India. The match was disrupted for an hour as rains lashed the stadium in only the second over of the match but no overs were deducted from the tie. India gave wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel his first chance to play in the ongoing tournament when he replaced an injured V.V.S. Laxman, who had strained his leg. Sri Lanka omitted injured Sanath Jayasuriya, along with Thilina Kandamby and fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who all played in the home side's 116-run win over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Saturday night. Captain Marvan Atapattu, who did not play Saturday, Chaminda Vaas and Farveez Maharoof replaced them. Scoreboard Sri Lanka: S Jayantha c Patel b Balaji 34, D Gunawardene run out (Patel) 49, M. Atapattu run out (Yuvraj Singh) 50, K. Sangakkara c Ganguly b Pathan 57, M. Jayawardene not out 58, T. Dilshan not out 7. Extras 27. Total 282/4 in 50 overs. Fall of wickets: 1-63 (Jayantha, 13.3 ov), 2-128 (Gunawardene, 27.1 ov), 3-156 (Atapattu), 4-272 (Sangakkara). Bowling Pathan 10-0-46-1, Balaji 9-1-52-1, Khan 9-0-17-0, Kumble 10-1-44-0, Ganguly 2-0-14-0, Yuvraj 3-0-17-0, Sehwag 7-0-46-0. India: S. Tendulkar c Jayantha b Zoysa 11, P. Patel c Sangakkara b Zoysa 6, V. Sehwag run out (Zoysa) 37, S. Ganguly c Muralitharan b Zoysa 6, R. Dravid b Muralitharan 82, Yuvraj Singh c Sangakkara b Vaas 47, M. Kaif b Maharoof 22, I. Pathan not out 15, L. Balaji c Sangakkara b Vaas 10, Z. Khan not out 0. Extras 33, Total 270/8 in 50 overs. Did not bat: A Kumble. Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Tendulkar, 3.5 ov), 2-33 (Patel, 7.1 ov), 3-71 (Sehwag, 13.4 ov), 4-71 (Ganguly, 14.1 ov), 5-204 (Yuvraj Singh, 40.3 ov), 6-234 (Dravid, 45.3 ov), 7-243 (Kaif, 46.5 ov), 8-266 (Balaji, 49.2 ov). Bowling Vaas 10-0-51-2, Zoysa 10-2-49-3, Maharoof 10-0-45-1, Muralitharan 10-0-46-1, Chandana 5-0-39-0, Dilshan 3-0-25-0, Jayantha 2-0-7-0.