COLOMBO, July 26: At the height of his devastating domination of the professional tennis tour, one of Bjorn Borg's fellow players said: ``We play tennis, he (Borg) plays something else. I think they should send him to another planet.'' The Indians may well be expressing similar sentiments in the manner in which Sri Lanka bowled, fielded and batted to rudely unseat them from the pedestal as Asia Cup champions.

``They played like world champions. We did not have a chance,'' was the perfect summation that skipper Sachin Tendulkar gave in his post-match assessment after Sri Lanka won by eight wickets and 13.1 overs to spare in the Pepsi Asia Cup final amid great jubilation at the Premadasa Stadium, here today.

After the experience and enterprise of Tendulkar and Mohammed Azharuddin had given India a semblance of respectability, Lanka made a mockery of the asking rate of 4.8.

Surprisingly, the Lankan charge was led by Maravan Atapattu. He cover-drove Robin Singh for four in his opening over and then flicked Venkatesh Prasad and thumped him off the backfoot through mid-off for boundaries in the following over, before Sanat Jayasuriya took over.

The left-hander lifted Robin over covers twice in the fourth over for boundaries and then repeated the stroke with similar effect in the next over off Prasad.

Robin was taken off after conceding 26 runs in three overs as skipper Tendulkar turned very early to his deputy for help. But Kumble, too, went like the others, conceding 10 runs in his first over. Tendulkar brought on Prasad for a second spell by changing his ends. But it turned out to be a massacre. Jayasuriya pulled the first ball for a six and then drove him twice for fours -- an over which saw the Karnataka medium-paces conceding 18 runs.

The Lankan fifty came in 5.2 overs and the 100 in 10.4 overs. The Indians endured more disappointment when Atapattu was caught at mid-wicket off Kumble on 43, but the umpire signalled a no ball. In fact, the Indians conceded as many as 25 extras to add to their misery. Later, Jayasuriya was fortunate that Ajay Jadeja was unable to hold on to a difficult catch off Nilesh Kulkarni when he was on 43.

Kulkarni came into the eleven after not finding a place in the short-listed 12 yesterday. Skipper Tendulkar explained the late rethink on the part of the team management as a move that was in the belief that the track would would break up.

Sri Lanka eased the attack after scoring 125 in just 14 overs. Jayasuriya completed his half century in 34 balls (1x6, 7x4) and then slammed Tendulkar for a six before giving debutant Kulkarni his first wicket in One-Day Internationals. The Jayasuriya- Atapattu stand added 137 runs.

Atapattu, who had earlier stepped out and slammed Kumble for a six over extra-cover, completed his half century in 48 balls before coasting his way to a second man-of-the-match award for his innings of 84 not out.

Skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, who was declared man of the series, came in after the fall of two quick wickets and took over the role of the aggressor. he hit Kulkarni for three sixes and treated Kumble equally harshly.

He dominated the unbroken third wicket stand, contributing 62 of the 96 runs. It was fitting that he was there in the middle when the winning runs came. After all he had played a major part with his captaincy and now, for the second time in this championship, came with a great knock -- 62 in 67 balls.

In the morning, the Sri Lanka fielding and catching peaked to a new high as they conjured catches from seemingly impossible situations. Muralitharan's catch to dismiss Mohammad Azharuddin was pure fantasy.

Azhar looked like clearing the fence off successive balls when Murali sprinted a long way and caught the ball at full tilt.

At that moment, his speed and imbalance looked like carrying him over the ropes when he showed amazing reflexes and presence of mind to tumble inside the playing area and complete a truly memorable catch.

The Indian innings was one-paced for a greater part of the innings as Tendulkar and Azharuddin went about the rehabilitation process with extreme caution and quiet attitude after three good wickets -- Navjot Sidhu, Rahul Dravid and Ganguly -- were lost with not much on the board.

Chaminda Vaas put the early shackles on the Indian openers by slanting the ball across from a nagging, run-denying length. Sidhu, who took Tendulkar's opening slot just couldn't find the replies to free himself from Vaas' probing line. He finally perished when he stepped out to Sajeewa de Silva and presented Murali with a straight and low catch at mid-on.

The Tendulkar-Azharuddin association was worth 109 in 23.2 overs.

However, in the end India did well to score 48 runs in the last five overs -- thanks to Azhar's belligerence and the support he got from Jadeja.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.