evidence: Almost every Sri Lankan over 25 could tell you the context of de Silva's 66 from 47 balls in the semi-final in Calcutta, because their team had never seen a big-match performance quite like it, and arguably, there has not been a better ODI counterattack anywhere. Sent in to bat in a tournament where they had preferred chasing, Sri Lanka lost their openers for one run, and a 100,000-strong Eden Gardens was baying. By the eighth over, Sri Lanka's top-order insurance - Gurusinha - had also been dismissed. [...] Like the public, Pakistan's cricketers, past and present, unequivocally favoured Sri Lanka. Reigning World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan visited the team hotel to conspire with Ranatunga, then attended a nets session ahead of the game. He had told the hotel staff to look after the Sri Lankan team. He needn't have bothered. They were already being treated like kings. [...] The only Sri Lankan who cracked that night was the 12th man. "If I was ever under stress in my life, it was running the drinks in the final," Pushpakumara remembers. "When the water break was coming up, the dressing room was bombarding me with messages to deliver. 'Tell Aravinda this' and 'Make sure Gura doesn't go after the fast bowlers.'