Utterly similar Teams ready for final battle

You could not see anywhere the top two teams almost similar in all the departments are getting ready for today's Final. Both teams lead by wicket keeper batsman, who bought their teams to this final step with their inspired leadership. Both teams have batsman who scored tons of runs in this tournament but Srilanka has slight edge over India. If we peep into the top run scorers in this tournment, #1, #4, #5 slots belonging to Sri Lankans (Dilshan, Sanga and Tharanga).
Indians have #2, #6 and #8 in the list. (Sachin, Viru and Yuvi). In total Sri Lankan trio scored 1277 runs while Indian trio scored 1185. With the bowling India has a definite edge over Srilanka in the pace bowling department as we have Zaheer and Munaf but their hopes are on only Malinga and with the ruling out of Angelo mathews in the last minute is probably prove to be costly but they try to make up this with their spin wizards; Murali, Mendis with Randiv backing up them. Both teams have best all rounders, infact one each. yuvi for india and Dilshan for Srilanka took the games away from their opponents singlehandedly.

It is not surprising to see the both teams have their own hiccups with their middle orders imploding as witnessed in India - England match and Srilanka - Newzealand Quarterfinal. Though struggled were they, managed to pull their socks up and routed their opponents in ruthless manner. The way India sent 3 times successive world cup champion Australia, and Afridi Inspired Pakistan their homes, No doubt those defeats breaks lakhs of hearts in their home countries. But Srilanka's journey to the final is not as tough as India's. They beat fitness problems ridden England and inconsistent Newzealand without much effort.

What must not be forgotten in this context is the role played by the toss. In most of the Day and Night matches and for the teams which have good spin bowling options, Winning the toss and batting first is the surest mantra. Especially here, India's weakness in facing Srilanka spin bowling attack while batting second should not be forgotten. Some of India's lowest scores recorded are against Srilanka when they batted second.

There is no doubt the team winning the toss chooses to bat. If Indian's are to bowl first, they must bowl with the same discipline they showed against Pakistan and need to bat with much more concentration. and playing in-front of the home crowd and batting maestro's own ground are surely raises Indian's spirit.

When the whole world is eagerly waiting to see cricket's two greatest players, one with timber and another with leather playing their most important battle in their life time, I am pretty sure all sorts of emotions are preoccupied not only the players but also spectators