SUMMIT CLASH: Asian giants fight it out for cup glory (Preview)

You couldn’t have asked for more than this. After twelve years, one-day cricket will have a new world champion as there will be no Australia in the finals this time around. Instead, two major co-hosts-India and Sri Lanka- will be fighting it out for the eventual glory at Wankhede on Saturday.

For majority of cricket pundits, India and Sri Lanka making it to the summit clash isn’t a surprise. And, if any, South Africa was other team billed as the hot favorites for lifting their maiden trophy but with their shock defeat in quarterfinal to New Zealand, Sri Lanka and India were expected to be in the finals.

It will be for the third time neighboring countries are in the world cup finals with both having a win apiece and losing another to the might of Australia. Now, Saturday’s super encounter will give one of these Asian cricket giants to add another world cup trophy to their kitty.

Barring a few hiccups in group stages, both teams have played some ruthless cricket in knockouts with Sri Lanka overcoming England and New Zealand and India emerging victorious in their games against Australia and archrivals Pakistan to march into the final.

India will be high on confidence after beating Pakistan in the high voltage encounter semi final by handling the pressure and expectations with all the calm in the world. Bowling department, considered a weak link before the semis, stepped up to defend a modest target of 261 runs as all the bowlers displayed much needed discipline and variations to make life difficult for Pakistan batsmen in the middle.

India will have home crowd to egg them up. All of India and majority of crowd will have only one team on their lips-India. The expectations and pressure, at times, brings downfall but this MS Dhoni led side has proved to be sponge and absorbed it to achieve glory after glory.

Dhoni has had everything-number one ranking in test cricket and ODI’s, t-20 world cup, IPL and champions league trophies-in his cupboard and his cupboard will get more decorative if he pulls off a victory on Saturday.The world cup win will round off some magnificent cricket that team India has played under tutorship of Gary Kirsten who is all set to say good bye to the prestigious job after the finals.

Let us win the cup for Sachin Tendulkar has been an inspirational cry from all the members of the team as maestro’s illustrious career is missing a world cup trophy. How befitting would it be for the legend to have one in his home ground and possibly in his last world cup game. Son of the soil will be the attraction in the mega final as maestro would be keen to register his 100th ton on the biggest occasion of his life.

While whole of India has gone frenzy after their team’s win in high octane game against Pakistan, Sri Lanka have landed in India without much noise in their pursuit to bring home the glory.

Lankan tigers have simply outclassed their opponents in knockouts and pulled all three facets of the game together at the crucial time. Odds may be stacked against them but they look a side that knows of its plans, strengths and weaknesses. They have been more concerned about performance part of their game than frenzy part of it.

If Dhoni is uber-cool, Kumar Sangakkara Sri Lankan skipper is an astute student of game and has an able lieutenant in Mahela Jayawardene to turn to when in crisis. If India wants to win it for Sachin, Lanka wants do same for their best ever cricketer that goes by the name of Muthaih Muralitharan, who is playing his last game in Lankan colors.

The champion off-spinner has been a source of inspiration for his team as smiling assassin has played last three games virtually on one leg as he continues to battle a strain and hamstring injury that he suffered during group stages. His commitment has rubbed on the shoulders of his team mates and team is bringing with confidence on and off the field.

The most impressive thing about Sangakkara’s men is way they have carried themselves during this tournament and remained focused all along to look one of the dangerous sides in the tournament.

Both teams have some fitness worries ahead of the all important finals with Indian left arm pacer Ashish Nehra already ruled out of the game with a finger injury while Lanka are having a keen look at the progress of Murali and Angelo Mathews. Sri Lanka would hope that both the star players recover well in time and take field on Saturday.

There will be mini-battles that would define the result of the mega-battle.

Malinga versus Sehwag

Virendar Sehwag has only one gear when he is batting-fifth and Lasith Malinga has been one of the best seamers of the tournament. Both will be keen to wrest the initiative early in the piece to get their teams off to a good start.

Harbhajan versus Sanga-Mahela

Two senior pros Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara remain the fulcrum of Lankan batting and in the middle overs have a knack of accumulating runs with all the ease and minimum fuss and their battle with Indian ace off-spinner Harbhajan during the crucial stages of the game will be one to look out for.

Zaheer versus Dilshan

Tilkeratne Dilshan is Sri Lankan version of Sehwag as he attacks right from the word go. In the finals, he will have Zaheer Khan, Indian bowling spearhead to confront with upfront. The one who will come at the top will give his team a better chance of winning the game.

Murali versus Indian middle order

Murali on one leg or both, you can never write this man off. He will be the main figure for Lankans as Indian strong middle order’s ability to play spin has well documented. If Indian middle order thwarts Murali’s overs in the middle order without much of damage, they would have done a good job. But Murali, as we all know, will have other ideas in the mind.

The pitch at Wankhede is expected to be a slow turner and both teams have spin resources in abundance to make better use of the conditions.

Fielding might be a crucial factor in deciding the results of the match as every run matters in the big game as it is.

With Nehra out of the final due to a finger injury, R Ashwin making it to the playing eleven is a real possibility. He will be more than handful on Wankhede track and can pose some problems to the Sri Lankan batsmen.

India

Squad

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt./wk), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin, Ashish Nehra.

Coach: Gary Kirsten

Sri Lanka

Squad

Kumar Sangakara (Capt & Wkt), Mahela Jayewardene, Tilkeratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Chamara Kapudegera, Chamara Silva, Thisara Perrera, Muthaih Murlitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekra, Dilhara Fernando and Lasith Malinga

Coach: Trevor Bayliss