The Hindu : Sport : A dream final at the Wanderers

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Monday, Sep 24, 2007
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Sport

A dream final at the Wanderers

Nandita Sridhar

Injured Sehwag’s participation is doubtful

— PHOTO: AFP

HOPES OF A NaTION: It would be every Indian cricket fan’s wish come true if Dhoni’s men can cap off a remarkable run by besting Pakistan in the final and bring home the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 Cup on Monday.

Johannesburg: A dream final has materialised in the inaugural World Twenty20. Every organiser hopes for it, players talk of the pressure but cannot resist the thrill, and even impartial viewer may be driven to dump principles.

An India versus Pakistan final offers immense possibilities. It cannot get bigger than this. A win for either team on Monday may wipe out nightmares of the 2007 World Cup at the West Indies.

Both the teams were not favourites to enter the final. India came in with negligible experience, a trio seeking redemption in a new format, and bowlers anticipating a cruel fate.

Pakistan had just sent back its fastest and most experienced bowler, and brought in 33-year-old Misbah-ul-Haq, who was favoured over Mohammed Yousuf.

— Photo: AP

GLORY BECKONS: Captains Shoaib Malik and Mahendra Singh Dhoni pose with the Twenty20 World Cup in front of the statue of Nelson Mandela on the eve of the India-Pakistan final in Johannesburg.

But what has worked for the players of these two teams has been a rare distribution of responsibility. The players have played well as a team. The Indians have shown the right attitude in the field and have quickly understood the nuances of batting in Twenty20. “The last eight overs are more crucial than the first five. If we have wickets in hand, we can make up for it in the few overs,” said the Indian captain M.S. Dhoni, on the eve of the final.

It worked well against England, where the openers played wonderfully and posted good totals against South Africa and Australia. Virender Sehwag’s participation though is doubtful for the final after he pulled a thigh muscle on Saturday.

“Yuvraj Singh has been the backbone of our batting and has the highest strike-rate (235) in the tournament. His role in rapidly accelerating the scoring will be crucial in the middle overs,” said Dhoni.

Exemplary bowling

The bowling has been exemplary. R.P. Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth have throttled batsmen. The only area of doubt is with respect to the wicket. The Wanderers is totally different from Kingsmead.

Batting will be easier and the conditions don’t aid swing as much. India will also be playing its first day match (2 p.m. start local time) after the New Zealand match last Sunday.

Pakistan’s top-order is a little shaky. Salman Butt was left out of the semifinal squad and Shoaib Malik did not reveal the openers for the final.

It hasn’t hampered its progress so far because Malik and Misbah have wiped out the openers’ scoring deficits. But there’s too much expectations on these two.

Unplayable

Mohammed Asif and Umar Gul have been unplayable upfront, though Asif has had trouble bowling in the death overs. His quirky wrong-footed action notwithstanding, Sohail Tanvir has proved hard to figure out. And the pressure factor of course cannot be discounted. “India-Pakistan match is always special and you can never negate that fact. But you got to do well and think of it as just another match,” said Dhoni.

“Pressure is always there in this match, and we need to motivate the juniors and tell them what India-Pakistan match means and they can come up with josh for this match,” said Malik.

Cricket’s biggest stage for its shortest version could not have asked for a bigger final.

The teams:

India: M.S. Dhoni (captain), Ajit Agarkar, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Joginder Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, R.P. Singh, Yuvraj Singh, S. Sreesanth and Robin Uthappa.

Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (captain), Imran Nazir, Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Misbah ul Haq, Yasir Arafat, Iftikhar Anjum, Mohammad Asif, Umer Gul, Fawad Alam, Mohammed Hafeez, Abdur Rehman and Sohail Tanvir.

Umpires: Simon Taufel and Mark Benson. Third umpire: Daryl Harper. Fourth Umpire: Billy Doctrove. Referee: Ranjan Madugalle.