India chase World Cup history but Lankan lions in the way

M R Mishra
Mumbai, Apr 1 (PTI) Armed with the wishes of millions
of passionate fans and a never-say-die spirit, India are just
one win away from crowning themselves the ODI world champions
after almost 28 years as they clash with an equally determined
Sri Lanka in the first all-Asian cricket World Cup summit
showdown here Saturday.
More than two decades after their incredible World Cup
triumph at the historic Lord's, India find themselves on the
threshold of probably their biggest cricketing moment as they
brace up for a nerve-wrecking battle for supremacy at the
renovated Wankhede stadium.
Both India and Sri Lanka, two Asian giants who have
played against each other frequently in recent times, have won
the coveted trophy once each and will leave no stone unturned
to regain the Cup.
Though there is little to choose between the two
teams, India will fancy their chances of putting it across the
islanders as they are playing at home and are peaking at the
right time after a rather patchy beginning to their campaign.
Both the teams have some injury concerns ahead of the
grand finale which will be high on emotions for a variety of
reasons and will give one last chance to ageing maestro Sachin
Tendulkar to fulfill his dream of winning the World Cup, one
silverware that has been missing from his collection.
The match will be the last outing for India's highly
respected coach Gary Kirsten who has transformed the team into
world-beaters as also Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss, who is
set to resign after the World Cup.
It will also be a swansong match for Muttiah
Muralitharan, who is racing against time to recover from a
knee injury.
The home team has suffered a jolt ahead of the game
with Ashish Nehra, who bowled well in the high-voltage
semifinal clash against Pakistan in Mohali, being virtually
ruled out because of a finger injury.
Similarly, Sri Lanka have injury concerns over
Muralitharan and all-rounder Angelo Matthews and have called
in Suraj Randiv and Chaminda Vaas as cover.
The hosts are also grappling with a selection dilemma
ahead of the summit showdown which will be watched by millions
of fans in both the cricket-crazy nations.
The Indians misread the Mohali track and opted for an
additional seamer in Nehra at the expense of spinner
Ravichandran Ashwin who did a decent job in the two matches he
has played so far.
The Mohali pitch assisted the slow bowlers more though
the three Indian pacers -- Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Nehra
-- bowled well.
The Indians are peaking at the right time having
prevailed over defending champions Australia in the quarters
and arch-rivals Pakistan in a high-voltage semi-final but it
remains to be seen whether they can pull it off when it
matters the most.
Captain Dhoni has warned his teammates not to get
distracted by the excessive hype surrounding their World Cup
campaign and just focus on the job at hand.
"There'll be plenty of things happening around us, but
what's important is not to get distracted. We all know what
our jobs are as professional cricketers so we'll stick to that
and try to play good cricket", Dhoni said.
"The Sri Lankans have a good side and they have done
really well in the tournament. We have to play good cricket to
beat them. We have to be at our best."
Both the teams appear to be well-balanced on paper
though the islanders certainly have a more potent bowling
attack, particularly with the presence of spin wizard
Muralitharan who will be keen to make an impression in his
swansong game.
Muralitharan has been troubled by a knee injury and
Randiv has been called in as cover for him, though the team
management is confident that he would be fully fit by
tomorrow.
Although the Indians have a formidable batting line-up
and most of them are quite adept in dealing with spin,
Muralitharan is a wily customer and will find a way to put
pressure on the batsmen if he takes the field on tommorrow.
The home team will look to Tendulkar and the
flamboyant Virender Sehwag to provide a rollicking start and
set the platform for the middle-order to take India to a
decent total at the Wankhede stadium track which is expected
to suit the batsmen.
Tendulkar has been in good form right through the
tournament with 464 runs and his fans will be hoping that he
achieves the phenomenal milestone of scoring his 100th
international century at his home ground.
Sehwag, who started with a brilliant 175 against
Bangladesh, has not really fired after that knock though he
has rattled up quick-fire 30s and 40s. India need him to be at
his brutal best to take the game away from the Lankans.
India have the depth in their batting but they need to
ensure that they don't collapse in the batting powerplay as
they had done against South Africa and the West Indies. They,
however, made the powerplay count in the last game against
Pakistan.
Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, captain
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Raina have enough talent and skill
to put runs on the board. Dhoni has been struggling with the
bat and will be hoping to make a contribution when it matters
most.
Yuvraj, who is having a dream World Cup and has
already won a record four man-of-the-match awards, will have a
key role to play since he is the player in form both with the
bat and ball.
The Sri Lankans, on the other hand, have a settled
look to their squad and definitely have the resources to spoil
India's party.
Their top batsmen -- Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar
Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardene -- have all
been among the runs.
"It means a lot to us. This is what we planned for
over two years. We missed a great opportunity in 2007 when we
reached the finals and again we've got a great opportunity
tomorrow," Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara said.
"We will be preparing for the finals. We don't have to
get carried away. We are in the finals and that's great and we
need to keep our heads down and keep in mind that there's a
lot of work left to be done. Its the biggest day of our
lives", he said.
The eventual winners of the flagship event of the game
would be richer by USD three million, while the runners-up
would take home USD 1.5 million out of the total prize pool of
USD 12.52 million.
Sri Lanka have played four one-dayers at this venue,
including a league match in this tournament against New
Zealand. Out of those four, they have won two and lost two.
Sri Lanka had been beaten by India and defeated them
once each in their first two encounters at the ground in
1986-87 and 1996-97.
In two other non-India games, the Lankans were beaten
by the West Indies in 1993, while they defeated New Zealand
earlier this month.
The teams:
India: Mahendra Singh S Dhoni (captain/keeper),
Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam
Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh
Raina, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, S Sreesanth,
Ravichandran Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh.
Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (captain/keeper), Mahela
Jayawardene (vice-captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dilhara
Fernando, Rangana Herath, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan
Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis,
Muttiah Muralitharan, Thisara Perera, Thilan Samaraweera,
Chamara Silva, Upul Tharanga
On-field Umpires: Simon Taufel and Aleem Dar.
Third Umpire: Ian Gould.
Fourth Umpire: Steve Davis.
Match Referee: Jeff Crowe.
Match starts at 2.30 pm.