After a frenetic 11-day period that saw 12 matches, Sri Lanka and India have survived the crammed schedule, the heat, and a few wobbles to make their way to yet another Asia Cup final. Historically, these two sides have been the strongest in the tournament, winning seven of the eight editions so far; Sunday's game will be their sixth meeting in Asia Cup finals. India and Sri Lanka clashed in the tournament’s last final at Colombo in 2004 and the Islanders won by 25 runs. Only three players from the current Indian squad played in that match — Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan while the Sri Lankans have seven players from that final doing duty here.The STAR Cricket Asia Cup final against defending champion Sri Lanka at the National Stadium here on Sunday evening, presents Dhoni and Co., another opportunity to assuage genuine fears about the Indian team’s resilience in coping with a rich legacy and the resultant vacuum as Tendulkar copes with a body that has stretched itself thin over 19 years of top flight cricket while Dravid and Ganguly have been omitted on the basis of ageing shoulders.
India will depend primarily on its batters to deliver in the final of the Asia Cup against Sri Lanka on Sunday. The Indian bowlers have not made much of an impression on the batsman-friendly track at Karachi's National Stadium, but the batsmen have chased down huge totals in the tournament so far. The Indians, however, will be keen to improve their bowling and fielding against the islanders. The Sri Lankans with their double-barrel-gun combine of Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara, have bludgeoned bowlers without any remorse. Jayawardene has slowly found his feet and Chamara Kapugedera and Chamara Silva too have chipped in and the Indian attack needs to shrug its rust and stick to the basics as emphasised by bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad.
In the past...
- Sri Lanka haven't lost to India in the last six finals between the two teams - they've won four while two were rained out. The last time India won a final against them was ten years ago, in the Singer-Akai Nidahas Trophy.
- Sanath Jayasuriya averages 51.54 at a strike rate of 100.17 in finals against India. In 11 innings he has scored one hundred and four fifties, including a 99.
- Muttiah Muralitharan has an excellent economy rate of 4.03 in finals against India. In seven innings, he has taken nine wickets at 28.22.
- India's top five (Gambhir, Sehwag, Raina, Dhoni and Yuvraj) all average more than fifty in the tournament, with Dhoni the only one with a strike rate - 97.88 - less than 100.
India last won the Asia Cup at Sharjah in 1995. It is time to regain the cup that at one stage was India’s monopoly since its launch in 1984. India has won the tournament on four occasions. But before that Dhoni’s men should forget about cramped schedules, flat pitches, sultry weather and perhaps take a leaf out of their rivals who always seem to be on their toes in the field. For Sri Lanka, playing in Pakistan is often about revisiting memories of that famous 1996 World Cup triumph at Lahore.
The teams (from):
India: M.S. Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, R.P. Singh, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Manpreet Gony, Piyush Chawla and Pragyan Ojha.
Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), K. Sangakkara, S. Jayasuriya, Chamara Silva, T. Dilshan, C. Kapugedera, T. Thushara, M. Muralitharan, C. Vaas, A. Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, N. Kulasekara, Jehan Mubarak, M. Udawatte, K. Weeraratne and F. Maharoof.
Umpires: Simon Taufel and Tony Hill; Third umpire: Zameer Haidar; Match referee: Alan Hurst.
Match starts at 3.30 p.m. IST.
