The Final – India vs Sri Lanka

I know I am very very late to write on this topic! Nonetheless not so late either 🙂

Clash of the TITANS. 2 of the best teams in the tournament facing head to head in a battle to conquer glory.

I wanted India vs Pakistan finals 🙂 no really, it would have been just an amazing one.

India were the favorites to win the title right from the start of the tournament. Although Indian team players were found a bit rusty in the beginning, they came to top-notch form when it mattered the most. It was a collective team effort which brought India to the Finals which they had reached twice before. Won one against West Indies in 1983 and lost one against Australia in 2003. The revenge against Australia was already taken by screwing their world cup dreams right in the Quarter Final stage. The last 3 matches which India played, we all witnessed some amazing stuffs. Team selections, batting and bowling strengths of the favorites and also the fielding which the youngsters in the Indian line up did an amazing job. Indians held their nerves and played it cool even under high pressure games and also under the leadership of Mr. Cool captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and also the man behind the team coach Gary Kristen.

Kiwi Curry for the Lankan Tigers

” 30 to 40 runs more on the board and we could have been there in the finals ” – This thought must have surely gone through Vettori’s mind “n” number of times yesterday. Yes, with just 217 on board and with the mighty lankan tigers ready to pounce the bunch of Kiwi’s could do nothing else but surrender!

After kicking out South Africa in a low scoring thriller, Kiwis thought the same would apply against Sri Lanka too. But everything went haywire. You cant expect to contain the mighty lankan team who have the likes of Dilshan, Tharanga, Sangakarra, Jayawardena in top-notch form to falter. Healthy target would have been somewhere around 265. But the Kiwi batsmen were caught napping. All the pressure was on the Kiwi bowlers even before Lankans came into bat.

On the other hand, Lankan seamers and spinners did an amazing job bundling the Kiwi team to a short score which they could easily chase down. Murali with his doosra and Mahlinga with his fantastic yorker have proved they can break down the top batting order of any team!