Cricket World Cup 2011 - India vs Sri Lanka Preview

Mahendra Dhoni and Kumar Sangakkara looking relaxed with the Cricket World Cup trophy

On Saturday the Cricket World Cup finally draws to a close. After 90 games, 12 eliminations and about 8 tight finishes (and that’s being generous), we now have just the final to go. The tournament has been on for so long I can scarcely remember what my life was like before it started; what did I used to do before it began, how did I fill my day when I wasn’t following the action on BBC TMS, Twitter, or catching up with the highlights on Sky back home in the evening?

The tournament climaxes in Mumbai with India taking on Sri Lanka in what pundits are billing as the final stand between their respective legends; Sachin Tendulkar and Muttiah Muralitharan. A romantic script that the ICC could only have dreamed of writing when they were putting teams into groups trying their damnedest to get as many TV-friendly fixtures into the schedule as they could.But with just the spectacular final between these two now to come, has the rest of the 2011 World Cup really lived up to the billing?

Well probably not, and if your team wasn’t in England’s group B, you probably couldn’t wait to see the back of the group stages. England had unbelievable drama in their group matches, which was fun whilst it lasted but perhaps simply underlined how utterly chaotic their preparations were for the tournament.

India’s victory over Australia and South Africa’s almighty choke at the hands of New Zealand provided splendid entertainment in the quarter finals, but England and the West Indies’ demises at the hands of Sri Lanka and Pakistan respectively were calamitous to say the least. England didn’t even get a wicket for goodness sake!

The two Semi Finals we’ve just witnessed promised excitement and possibly upsets, but turned out to be reasonably straightforward victories for both Sri Lanka and India in the end. New Zealand will forever regret their collapse at the end of their innings because ultimately, even though Sri Lanka never really surged ahead of the run rate, and had a little South Africa-esq choke (more of a splutter) as well, the Kiwis never really had enough runs to defend to force home the win.

The “big one” between India and Pakistan boiled down to a battle between the batting of India versus Pakistan’s bowling. India’s batting started well but probably finished slightly below par. Pakistan’s bats however never really got them into contention and they fell away in the middle overs, losing wickets at regular intervals and ultimately came up short. Epic though the occasion was, the rhetoric and hyperbole probably outweighed the tension on the pitch – India winning comfortably in the end.

The final pits the best two teams of the tournament against each other. Sri Lanka’s batting is better than Pakistan’s and their bowling is probably on a par at least, so they will offer India, the favourites, a much sterner test than the home side got on Thursday in Mohali.

A lot has been made of battle the legends; Tendulkar versus Muralitharan and it should be a great contest and a fitting end to Murali’s career and for Sachin; the greatest batsman of my lifetime, a final chance to win the World Cup he and his country so crave.

But it’s not just about these two. Yuvraj Singh has been in fine form with bat and ball so far in this competition for India, and Virender Sehwag has been scoring heavily at the top of the order too. They also have Yusuf Pathan who can be explosive down the order, a position that could be key in this match.

As if to confirm that point, it was Sri Lanka’s middle order that saw them over the line against New Zealand in their semi final. There is no doubt Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan are all in good nick, but if India get early wickets, Sri Lanka will have a relatively unused middle order exposed and they will want to avoid that.

In the bowling ranks, India have Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, as well as Yuvraj who can all cause problems and equally keep things tight when needs be. Sri Lanka meanwhile have to make a call on Muralitharan as he is really struggling with his hamstring. If it were any other game he would surely not play, but a World Cup final, in his last game for Sri Lanka, he will almost certainly start. Lasith Malinga has been one of the most effective pace bowlers in the whole tournament and a lot will depend on him, as well as the spin of Herath and Mendis, if Sri Lanka are to put the Indian batting line up under pressure.

As well as having their premier bowler at half strength, Sri Lanka will also have to contend with a rocking Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, with 33,000 fans all urging India and in particular Sachin Tendulkar on to victory. The Indian fans have believed from the start of this tournament that they were destined to win the World Cup this time, and that vociferous support will make it an intense and intimidating atmosphere to contend with.

The semis were decent, but you sense they were the lull before the storm.

If Murali was fit I would back Sri Lanka, just. But with their premier bowler only half fit, for me, the momentum swings India’s way. Just whoever is the winner on Saturday 2^nd April 2011, two of the greatest talents in the modern game will bow out of World Cup cricket tomorrow, and I hope the game is a celebration of their talents, whoever ends up victorious