Finally, the day of the final encounter of the world cup 2011 is upon us. An event which the entire cricketing world awaits for with bated breath. As always, it so seems that the past month has passed by in a surreal fashion.
For the first time in the history of this tournament, we are going to witness an all-Asian final. Indulging in a moment of silent gloating, i would like to point out that India and Sri Lanka were my two predictions (in a now-deleted entry to this blog) to be the favourites at this world cup. Guess the home advantage played a bigger part than was expected.
Looking forward to the final, it is a very evenly matched tie, it every possible respect. In fact, i would not hesitate to go on and say it has been one of the most evenly matched world cup ever. Both the teams are going into the final with an even win-loss record and nearly even injury concerns. India is being touted as the favourite due to the home advantage and also due to the exaggerated inadequacies of the Sri Lankan side. Nevertheless, I would like to point out that Sri Lanka's victories over England and New Zealand left many a face agape. India , on the other hand, impressed many with their resilience,indomitable spirit and ability to hold on to nerves. Sri Lanka, albeit due to their own might, haven't had to deal with a lot of nerves in this competition and therefore, this is being touted as an attribute that is going to shift the balance in India's favour.
The familiarity between the two sides over the past couple of years is only going to make it a much-more equally poised contest. Sri Lanka would definitely have benefited by a fit Murali and losing Angelo was also a shocking blow. In comparison, India's loss of Nehra seems less drastic.
I could go on and on about how close a match this is going to be. But to be absolutely clear, there are no favourites to this one as one may debate the distribution of odds all day. One thing is for sure- WE GOT A GAME OM OUR HANDS!!!
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