It was also an easily forgettable tournament for Sri Lanka and India.

Kumar Sangakkara's Sri Lankans started on an impressive note when they beat the hosts before losing their next two games against England and New Zealand to bow out of the tournament.

Two of their big players, batsman Sanath Jayasuriya and off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, failed to do justice to their stature.

Jayasuriya, the world's second-highest scorer (13 377) in one-dayers after Indian Sachin Tendulkar (16 903), could manage only 34 in three matches.

Muralitharan, the world's leading wicket-taker in Tests (783) and one-day internationals (512), appeared in two matches, conceding 106 runs in 18 overs for just one wicket.

India went into the tournament as one of the favourites, having won five successive bilateral one-day series and a tri-series. But they were under pressure after losing their opening match against Pakistan.

They shared points with Australia in a rain-hit game and then beat a depleted West Indies side in their last match, but it came too late as they were already knocked out of the competition.

"Of course, the first game we played we were off the boil. But apart from that game, the second was a wash-out and the third we won," skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had said after his team's last match.

"You feel disappointed, but at the same time it is difficult to say whether this performance was bad."

It was the second time this year after the Twenty20 World Championships in England that India had failed to make it to the semifinals of a big event.