After a slow start, India had recovered to 93 for 2 in 14 overs, and with an in-form Virat Kohli looking good, they were set for a final flourish. That flourish never arrived as Yuvraj Singh struggled to a painful 21-ball 11, starving Kohli of the strike. It resulted in only 19 runs coming off the final four overs.
"I think in the middle overs," MS Dhoni said when asked when the game slipped away. "Our batsmen tried their best to get going but it was one of those days when we couldn't convert our starts. Virat was the only one out there who looked fluent.
India ended on 130, a total Dhoni felt was a touch light. "I think we could have got another 10-15 runs. T20 cricket is always about that extra 15 runs."
He also felt that the showers just before the start of the game made the ball stop early on when coming off the pitch, which hampered run-scoring.
While asking for more from his batsmen, Dhoni also praised Sri Lanka's pinpoint bowling at the death. "The last four overs is a place where we really want to score as many as you can and that was an area where we couldn't capitalise. At the same time you have to give credit to the Sri Lankan bowlers. I think they executed their plans brilliantly. They were looking for wide yorkers and all the balls were perfect wide yorkers. I think they only bowled one wide or something. Other than that they were right on the mark, which made it further more difficult for our batsmen to score freely."
India have been one of the better teams when it comes to dealing with the unorthodox threat of Lasith Malinga, but Dhoni said Malinga troubled his batsmen in the final. "Malinga has that slingy action, not coming from a great height, [it] becomes very difficult to get underneath the ball. It was a perfect game for the Sri Lankan team, they bowled yorkers to both right-handers and left-handers."