ICC 20-20 World Cup 09 Final - Will Srilanka takes on Pakistan ?

Today will witness a fight very unique in the cricketing world. While Sri Lanka takes on Pakistan today in the T20 World Cup final, it would be a contest of culture and tradition going against prestige. Following the terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team while touring Pakistan, the host country has been isolated from the Cricket world map.

Pakistan is a country where cricket lives in the minds of the people. They love cricket and follow it with a belief just as their religion. The country also produced some great Cricketing honours like Abdul Qadir, Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Inzamam-Ul-Haq etc. But now, the isolation of Pakistan and the tensed political situations due to the Talibani terrorism, Cricket is on a downfall in the country. The culture and tradition that follows the game is now dying out.

Winning this cup would be seen as an action to preserve the culture of Cricket in the country and the people who faces the danger of terrorist attacks anytime, would be rejuvenated with this win and look for new life.

On the other hand, the win for Sri Lanka would mean another World Cup up their sleeves. The team has done a lot of hard work in the entire tournament knocking out teams like Australia and West Indies. Any day, Sri Lanka seems to be a better team on paper than Pakistan, but the commitment that Pakistani players have shown in the entire tournament should make them a strong contender to lift the cup. In the last edition of this same tournament, Pakistan finished as the 1st runner-up, losing to arch rivals India, by a very small margin.

Key players to look out for would be the Sri Lankan openers Tillakratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya. Interestingly, Jayasuriya feels not to be affected his dropping age. 40 just seem to be a number for this one of the Cricketing greats ever. He still has the same commitment for the team and the hunger of making runs as ever.

The ‘firki’ from Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Murlitharan is something Pakistan needs to be careful of. The Pakistani batsman need to see out the quota of 8 overs by the two magician Lankan spinners in a way to maintain a healthy run rate without losing much wickets.

Shahid Afridi, the angry young man, demonstrated in the semis against South Africa, that his all-round heroics can single-handedly make the team win. Moreover, Younis Khan, Kamral Akmal, Shoaib Malik and Misbah-Ul-Haq are the ever-green T20 batsmen that Pakistan has. Apart from that, they would be relying on the reverse swing that Umar Gul can amazingly generate with the new ball itself.

While the Pakistani batting looks solid, the Sri Lankan bowling seems to be the one breaking any maze. It would be an interesting contest with the bat & the ball and the entire world would witness an all-Asian crunchy final. May the best team wins!