Sri Lanka all set to face India in final of ICC World Cup 2011 – Preview
The wait is finally over. India will meet Sri Lanka in the final of the ICC World Cup 2011 which will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday, 2 April.
Both teams have won the mega event once before and will be looking forward to double their tally. There will be one psychological edge for the Sri Lankan Lions, as they were the winners of the 1996 World Cup which was played in the Subcontinent.
Sri Lanka played New Zealand in their semi-final match, which they won easily in the end. They successfully chased a target of 218 losing only 5 wickets. Although there was a fight back by the Kiwi team towards the end of the innings, the hosts managed to
hold onto their nerves and secured a final berth.
On the other hand, India overcame Pakistan in their semi-final clash at Mohali. Batting first, the hosts amassed 260 runs, which proved too good for the Men in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972,
the home team emerged victorious.
Before the start of the ICC World Cup 2011, former players and cricket pundits rated Sri Lanka and India to be the hot favourite teams for the mega event. Both teams had some ups and downs in their group matches, but managed to find consistency and good
run of form in the knockout stages.
One of the main reasons behind the success of the two Asian giants was their top order. For http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429 scored the bulk of runs, guiding the team to massive totals. Compared to them, the Sri
Lankan opening pair of Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan have also piled on plenty of runs, including two double century opening stands against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 and England.
Not only the opening batsmen have been successful for both the teams, there have been some splendid performances from their middle orders as well. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 and Yuvraj Singh have done a terrific job in the tournament until now. They have been able to
build on to the starts given by the openers. Similarly Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have held the innings together for their team in the middle overs.
However, there has been one weakness in both teams. Their lower middle order batsmen have not been able to make a big impression so far. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820 have not performed consistently with the bat, but the inclusion of Suresh Raina
has worked in favour of the hosts.
On the other hand, Chamara Silva and Thilan Samaraweera have found it hard to bat well in the death overs. However, young all-rounder Angelo Mathews has managed to finish the innings well for his team on numerous occasions.
There may be an injury scare for both the teams ahead of the final. Wily off-spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, which may rule them out of the title decider. Indian
pacer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755.
Both teams may seem evenly matched, but http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820.
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