Match Thread: World Cup Final Match:SL VS IND, April 2 14:30 local | 09:00 GMT | 15:00 BD IN Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai--Cup of Asia

[naim519]

SRI LANKA!!!!!

Dilshan will rip through Tendulkar!!!

SL has a much better bowling and a batting team.

[zman]

When will this tournament be over and we can start focusing on the real series - BD vs Aus

That said my money is on Srilanka for 2011 World Champs

[One World]

Srilanka-r palla vaari. But India will win.

[al-Sagar]

i hope sachin will get a century ............... and the best team will win the best game of the tournamment

[Buddhika_s]

If we bat first,

Tharanga
Dilshan
Sanga
Mahela
Samare
Mathews
Perera
Kule
Malinga
Mendis
Murali

If we bat second, put in Kapugedera or Silva instead of Perera/Kule.

Perera is very good against India.

[Buddhika_s]

All in all, pretty good world cup for us. If we win this, it would be awesome. I will be really happy. But if we don't win, I will still be happy with our performance. You win some you lose some.

1996-Champions
2003-Semi finalists
2007-Runners up

and now 2011.

[Neel Here]

same here, of course I would love India to win but I won't mind that much if we lose to sri lanka.

@Buddhika, you can't choose your team after the toss.

I won't play mendis against India, all Indian batsmen can pick him off his hand and he has a pretty poor record against India in recent times. I would play herath.

[F6_Turbo]

Originally Posted by naim519
SRI LANKA!!!!!

Dilshan will rip through Tendulkar!!!

SL has a much better bowling and a batting team.

Disagree

Zaheer has had a better WC than Malinga
Murali ahead of Harbhajan
Yuvraj in this tournament equal of Mendis
Ashwin equal of Herath
Matthews slightly ahead of Nehra/Patel

I actually think the bowling lineups are neck and neck, especially with the pitch that will be prepared.

In terms of batting

SL strength is with

Tharanga
Dilshan
Jaya
Sanga

the rest have been a real disappointment, with matthews being the exception.

As for India

Sehwag
Tendulkar
Gambhir
Raina
Yuvraj

Have been in good form, with Kohli in the last couple of match and Dhoni struggling.

So this really is anyones match, but playing at home, India slight favourites in my books.

[Banglatiger84]

India have had many great players in the "lost" generation (the India team in the 90s and early 00s) who didnt win a world cup; legends like Dravid, Ganguly and Kumble are all players who will never have won a world cup, a bit funny when you consider that Nehra and Harbhajan who are from the same generation could win the cup.

For Sri Lanka, almost all their good players were either there in 1996 or will be there now. The only exception is Atapattu.

[Neel Here]

nehra and bhajji are from the next gen. only sachin is from that generation. sachin, sourav, laxman and dravid have been playing together from when they were 13 year olds !!

[Buddhika_s]

Originally Posted by F6_Turbo
Disagree

Zaheer has had a better WC than Malinga
Murali ahead of Harbhajan
Yuvraj in this tournament equal of Mendis
Ashwin equal of Herath
Matthews slightly ahead of Nehra/Patel

I actually think the bowling lineups are neck and neck, especially with the pitch that will be prepared.

In terms of batting

SL strength is with

Tharanga
Dilshan
Jaya
Sanga

the rest have been a real disappointment, with matthews being the exception.

As for India

Sehwag
Tendulkar
Gambhir
Raina
Yuvraj

Have been in good form, with Kohli in the last couple of match and Dhoni struggling.

So this really is anyones match, but playing at home, India slight favourites in my books.

If you just count the number of wickets each bowler has taken and rank them then even Dilshan is neck to neck with Harbajan Singh. Sure Zaheer Khan is statistically better than Malinga but you also have to look at crucial spells. Malinga in the semi finals was 3/55 in 9 overs. You might say he was expensive but you have to look at his third spell to realize that he's the one who triggered the NZ collapse at the end.

Yuvraj Singh is having a good run these days. Indians are exceptional against spin but Sri Lankans are also very good players of spin. Yuvraj might've picked crucial wickets but he's not consistent. At the end of the day, his bowling average is still 37. So will Yuvraj's bowling really work in the final?

And for it all to work, you have to look at how well do bowlers compliment each other. For that you have to look at how many runs each team conceded thus far. India let Bangladesh score 283 and England score 338 on them. Both were batting second under lights. It was a while ago and they might've gotten better, but we'll have to wait and see. All I'm saying is you can't compare bowlers or bowling units based upon the number of wickets they have taken.

Mendis's job is to be accurate and economical. Which he has done so far with an economy rate of 19, so I think he will probably play the final.

[F6_Turbo]

Originally Posted by Buddhika_s
If you just count the number of wickets each bowler has taken and rank them then even Dilshan is neck to neck with Harbajan Singh. Sure Zaheer Khan is statistically better than Malinga but you also have to look at crucial spells. Malinga in the semi finals was 3/55 in 9 overs. You might say he was expensive but you have to look at his third spell to realize that he's the one who triggered the NZ collapse at the end.

Yuvraj Singh is having a good run these days. Indians are exceptional against spin but Sri Lankans are also very good players of spin. Yuvraj might've picked crucial wickets but he's not consistent. At the end of the day, his bowling average is still 37. So will Yuvraj's bowling really work in the final?

And for it all to work, you have to look at how well do bowlers compliment each other. For that you have to look at how many runs each team conceded thus far. India let Bangladesh score 283 and England score 338 on them. Both were batting second under lights. It was a while ago and they might've gotten better, but we'll have to wait and see. All I'm saying is you can't compare bowlers or bowling units based upon the number of wickets they have taken.

Mendis's job is to be accurate and economical. Which he has done so far with an economy rate of 19, so I think he will probably play the final.

-Zaheer has been THE crucial bowler for India, he has taken wickets in his opening spell, come back in the middle overs to break up dangerous partnerships(the wicket of Hussey against Australia in the QF) and taken wickets at the death.

-Yuvraj and his consistency, which is precisely why i added, 'in this tournament'

- I don't think I did compare the bowling lineups purely on numbers, now that I think about it, I didn't compare any of them by their statistical prowness, more on influence in this tournament. Which is why I put Matthews ahead of Nehra and Patel, in actual fact, they might have more wickets(I haven't checked).

Basically you're saying what I'm saying, there is very little between the two teams, on paper this is a very even match. Which is exactly what a final should be, with no CLEAR favourite.

I simply disagreed with the poster who said SL had a MUCH BETTER bowling and batting attack, specially in these conditions.

[Neel Here]

SL bowling is ahead, if not by a lot then quite some distance. they have better support pacers and a more varied spin attack.

[Baundule]

India is the better team.
But rooting for Sri Lanka. Go Lions, kick the BCCI team's ***.

[Night_wolf]

Originally Posted by Neel Here
same here, of course I would love India to win but I won't mind that much if we lose to sri lanka.

When will BD win one!!.....

i want 4 Asian teams to be world champs

BCCI do something about this

[F6_Turbo]

Chaminda Vaas on stand-by for World Cup final

Press Association

Last Updated: Mar 31, 2011
Chaminda Vaas has not featured for Sri Lanka in an ODI since 2008.


Sri Lanka are to fly out the veteran left-armer Chaminda Vaas and the spinner Suraj Randiv as cover ahead of the World Cup final amid injury concerns over Muttiah Muralitharan and Angelo Mathews.

Spin legend Muralitharan is set to play the last match of his illustrious international career in Saturday’s Mumbai showpiece against India and marked his final delivery in his home country by taking the wicket of New Zealand’s Scott Styris.

But he has struggled throughout the tournament with a succession of niggling injuries, most notably knee and hamstring problems.

Mathews, meanwhile, was forced off by a thigh problem while fielding in the semi-final victory over the Black Caps and was forced to bat using Mahela Jayawardene as a runner.

Vaas would be an ideal replacement for Mathews, with his left-arm seam and useful runs from the lower middle-order. The 37-year-old pondered retiring from international cricket after being omitted from his country’s 15-man squad for the tournament.

Randiv, 26, will be available to deputise for Muralitharan should the 39-year-old not make it. It seems inconceivable, however, that a man who has taken 534 ODI wickets and a further 800 in Tests would not be patched up for a 350th and final appearance in the format.

No request has yet been made to officially add either player to the squad, the International Cricket Council confirmed to Press Association Sport, but they will fly out later today and will be available if required.

Meanwhile, Simon Taufel and Aleem Dar have been appointed as the on-field umpires for the final.

The pair have, between them, been named as the ICC’s Umpire of the Year for the last six years, with Taufel winning the award from 2004 to 2008 and Pakistan’s Dar taking the honours for the two years since.

Dar stood in the 2007 final between Australia and Sri Lanka, which ended in a farcical bad light misunderstanding, but Australian Taufel has had to wait for his chance due to his country’s presence - and victories - in the previous three finals.

England’s Ian Gould and another Australian, Steve Davis, will serve as third and fourth umpires respectively, while New Zealand’s Jeff Crowe has been named as the match referee.

http://www.thenational.ae/sport/cric...orld-cup-final

So while they might not play, and are being brought in as emergency cover, it highlights how restricted Matthews and Murali are atm...

I suppose people will continue to say SL has the much better bowling lineup going into the match in less than 48 hours time. Remember Matthews went off the field injured, and while batting, did so the entire match with a runner. He won't be allowed a runner against India(pre existing injury), and we all saw how stiff Murali has been the last couple of matches, not really powering into his delivery stride, so missing a bit of fizz from his bowling.

[DJ Sahastra]

I think this match-up is evenly balanced as far as the two teams are concerned.

Bowling: SL team has an edge over India as far as bowling goes. Malinga, Murali and Mendis, in the same order, are all impact players. Regardless of what kind of World cup they have had so far, they can rip through any side when they get going and win the match single-handedly. Indian bowlers, on the other hand, are at best effective and can only hunt in a pack. They also rely on helpful condition. Advantage Sri Lanka.

Batting: India team has an edge over SL in batting. Sehwag, Yuvraj, Pathan, and to a lesser extent on current form, Sachin - are all impact players. They can take the game away in a matter of few overs. Gambhir, Kohli and Sachin provide the solidity along with run-scoring prowess as good as anyone. For the SL side, Jaya and Sanga provide the solidity. Dilshan (and to a lesser extent, Sanga and Agnelo) are impact players. Collectively, i feel their batting is strong but untested in this World cup and lacks the pedigree. Advantage India.

Fielding: SL has a definite edge on this one.

Pressure: Sri Lanka hasn't demonstrated a good ability to handle pressure in the two games that they were really tested - against Pakistan and against NZ (though they eventually won against NZ). India showed that in ample terms in its last 2 crunch encounters. But then the pressure of playing in front of the home-crowd should even that out. Advantage - none.

Overall - the two teams are evenly matched. India is dashing and mercurial on the batting side and above average in bowling. Sri Lanka is dashing and mercurial on the bowling side and has a decent or more than decent batting line-up. It is simply a matter of who shows up on that day.

[Beamer]

Pretty much agree with you DJ. I will also give the bowling edge slightly to SL. They are a varied attack. Fielding edge goes to SL as well. But, India has a definite edge in batting, as you have mentioned. When you have Raina coming at no.7, that says a lot. It is also a batting line up mixed with experience and youthful good batsmen. SL has a little worry in their armour that has gone unnoticed. Their batting is very top heavy. Top four has won them games and they have scored heavily. They remind me a bit of South Africa. If you can get past Mahela early, I am not sure if Thilan at no.5 and an out of sorts Chamara at no.6 can win you games. Angelo is good at no.7, but he is battling injury. I think, if India can manage to get to top four, the game is India's to lose. That said, its a pretty even contest. India has all the pressure of winning at home. I think India escaped with a bad batting performance against Pak. SL wont spill regulation catches either. Batting first is also showing an obvious advantage in this WC. I think India wins in the end and the Legend hoists the much deserved cup.

[Buddhika_s]

Mathews won't be playing, so I hope either Sanga or Mahela drop down to number 5.

My team in case Mathews isn't fit

Tharanga
Dilshan
Sanga
Mahela
Samaraweera
Kapugedera
Perera
Vaas
Malinga
Mendis
Murali

[SS]

If SL wants to win it they have to get Shewag out early and ofcourse Tendu...Yuvi is also winning matches for Ind...
Murali's injury came at the wrong time but hope other spinners will compensate that loss...If Tharanga Dilshan can give good start there is chance othewise SL middleorder is not doing good job.

[Neel Here]

lankan top four is like iron shell, very hard to break through. the lower order is no slouch, perera has an excellent record against India.

[str8_drive]

Bharat Mata is going to administer a beating on a relatively untested Lankan side in Mumbai. I base this on the following:

1.) Excluding Mendis debut (Asia Cup and Test Series in Lanka) he has a piss poor record vs India. Don't expect him to trouble India in the finals which will be a major blow to Lanka.

2.) Sri Lanka (excluding asia cup where he took 6-13) has a piss poor record in ODIs vs Inida.

3.) Most importantly Sri Lanka have not been put under pressue during this tournament. You typically find in most competition that teams who coast through crumble in the face of pressure. India conversely are a tried and tested unit. Their matches vs Pak, England, SA and Australia will do them wonders come Mumbai.

4.) Sri Lanka has a very weak middle order. Matthews (is not 100% fit), Chamara Silva and Flat track bully Samarweera have not been tested this WC. To expect them to preform on the big stage if Lanka are in trouble may be too much to ask.

5.) Murali is not 100% - enough said.

[satz]

Originally Posted by Beamer
I think India escaped with a bad batting performance against Pak.

I disagree in that wicket after the first 15 overs became difficult as the ball was stopping.precisely why tendulkar was not his usual fluent self.

so they had to gauge a safe score by their instincts and raina at the end said "260 was good enough on this wicket".it was reasonably safe,though not unreachable.

however we were not prepared well enough vs riaz and ajmal, both largely unfamiliar to us. it could have been easier if we could read ajmal as we do to mendis nowadays

[One World]

Mathews unfit.

[cricket_pagol]

I will be rooting for Srilanka. There is no news on cricinfo that mattews is unfit... so most likely it is nothing serious.