Sunday, September 23, 2007

The Ultimate Match-Up

The Twenty20 World Cup has come to its business end. And what a final line up. India vs Pakistan. Only once before have India and Pakistan met in a final of a major tournament; the World Series Final in Australia in 1985 which India won comfortably. And 22 years later, it is the final the marketing team of ICC could only have dreamed about.
Both teams had come to South Africa following a terrible World Cup in the West Indies. And here they have powered their way into the finals having outclassed all opponents in their way. For Pakistan its been their unheralded players, Misbah-ul-Haq and Sohail Tanvir who have led the way. And for India, it seems everybody has played their part. A top class opening partnership of Sehwag and Gambhir, followed by the power hitting led by Yuvraj and backed up by Uthappa, Dhoni and Rohit Sharma has led to a series of impressive scores against all opponents on difficult tracks. The bowling has been led by RP Singh and Sresanth was on fire against Australia. The comeback men Pathan and Harbhajan have been superb. The bowling has been backed up by great fielding (by Indian standards).
For the finals India's policy would be simple. Win toss, bat first, score big and defend the score. And continue our record of always beating Pakistan in a World Cup.
And we will have won our first World Cup since 1983.

1 comment:

Nishant said...

P.S. It seems India did lose to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy held in England in 2004. SO the record is actually 6-1 in India's favour in the big tournaments