India face wily Sri Lanka in World Cup title clash

Saturday, April 2, 2011, 11:39 [IST]Mumbai, April 2: There's a feeling at the back of every Indian fan's mind that it's now or never: India is on the threshold of world domination with just one formidable opponent standing in its way. When
India take on Sri Lankan in the final of the World Cup 2011 at Wankehde Stadium, Mumbai on April 2, the summit clash will mark the culmination of a glowing tournament replete with twists and upsets and dramatic wins and even a tie!
And there would be no perceptably better way for India to wrap up this World Cup than grabbing the coveted trophy with both hands. India's chances are good. They are riding the crest of a wonderful peak in form and they are playing in their backyard with their premeir batsmen in devastating knick. India have shown exceptional verve at overcoming Australia and Pakistan in its road to the final and now have the impteus to pull off one final win.

But one has to recognise that Sri Lanka are far from push-overs and with the inordinate strength of their top-order batting, may just pull off a sensational victory. They have shown that their permier batsmen present a tough obstacle for even the most favoured teams to surmount, a fact driven home in the 10-wicket thrashing they consigned to England in the quarterfinal of the tournament.

Sri Lanka has played four one-dayers at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium, including a league match in this tournament against New Zealand. Out of  those four, they have won two and lost two. So there chances of overpowering India here are 50-50.

But Sri Lanka hold a slight edge over India insofar as their batting is concerned. The Lankans' top four batsmen in their line up are collectively averaging around 233 (Tharanga's avg: 65.50 + Dilshan's
avg: 66.42 + Sangakkara's avg: 76.50 + Jayawardene's avg: 25.00), while for India the top quartet jointly notches up an approximate 156 (Tendulkar's avg: 47.12 + Sehwag's avg: 41.42 + Gambhir's avg: 37.00 + Kohli's 30.85).

But then the real juice for India comes in the middle order with Yuvraj averaging a phenomenal 85.25, while Sri Lanka's corresponding section  has to still prove their mettle, especially now with Angelo Mathews out of the equation with a muscle strain.

However, India have the upperhand where the bowling figures. Indian spearhead Zaheer Khan is in the form of his life, having taken 19 wickets at a miserly average of 17.57, while Yuvraj has clocked second
with 13 scalps at 25.23 and Munaf comes in a close third with 11 wickets at 26.72.

Muralitharan is the corresponding ace in the Sri Lanka pack with 15 wickets in the tournament so far at an average which trumps Zaheer's at 16..89. But he hasn't received much support from rest of the Lankan attack with just a couple of indfivisual performances from Malinga and Dilshan standing out.

So the die is cast for what promises to be a fantastic game of cricket and one that is closely contested. The World Cup hangs in the balance as each of the finalists strive to realise their dream of capturing the
accompanying glory.

Oneindia Cricket

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Paes-Bhupathi pair clinches Miami title, become World No 1

Miami (USA), Apr 3: Adding to the joy of India's cricket World Cup triumph, veteran tennis players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won their second title of the season by clinching the Sony Ericsson Open here to become number one in the ATP World Tour Doubles Team Rankings.

Third seeded Bhupathi and Paes rallied to beat second seeded Belarusian-Canadian pair of Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor 6-7(5) 6-2 10-5.

Paes had, in fact won the title even last year with Lukas Dlouhy but for Bhupathi it was his first career title at Crandon Park.

"The key (to us winning) was just fighting as a team. Like Leander said, we didn't play our best match of the week. All four of us were tentative in the beginning," Bhupathi told ''sonyericssonopen.com''.

The Indian Express duo were up 6-5 in the first set but let it slip by conceding a break and never had a lead in the tie-break.

"We had a chance to win that set but we didn't take it -- threw away the breaker pretty much," Bhupathi said.

Bhupathi and Paes found their rhythm in the second set and were also helped by a double fault by Nestor in the fourth game. That enabled the Indians to take a 3-1 lead and they never looked back after that.

"My level dropped after the first set. We didn't get enough balls in play and they served better as the match went on. Max played well, so I feel bad about that. But we played against a tough team today," Nestor admitted.

The win takes the Indians ahead of World number one Bob and Mike Bryan for first place in the ATP Doubles Team Rankings and in the battle to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

It is Paes and Bhupathi''s second team title of the year, following the Chennai Open at the start of the season.

"It's still early for us. The season is broken down into four segments -- this is just the first of them. If we''re still No. 1 after the US Open, then we'll start getting excited," said Bhupathi.

Paes finished runner-up to Nestor and Zimonjic with Lukas Dlouhy last year at the French Open, after he and the Czech won it in 2009.

"We love playing on the dirt. We got a month off now to get ourselves physically fit and get ready for a lot of long matches on the clay," Paes said.

"The clay definitely helps us because we train so hard for it over the years but at the same time there are a lot of singles guys who play well on the dirt too. At the French Open, I think it's one of the hardest slams to win, but if we're physically right, I think it will be good," he added.

PTI

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