The Biggest match of Cricket History on the Biggest stage.
Anyone can feel the magnitude and intensity of “India Vs Pakistan” in World Cup Final. This is a final not many would have imagined. The tournament has got the best possible climax. The sub-continental rivalry has the right combination of history, piquancy and edge to add up to a thriller.
With the ignominious “first-round exits” from the World Cup of 50-over version in West Indies just six months ago, who would have thought that India and Pakistan can set up a dream final at the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.
India defeated Australia by 15 runs in a thrilling floodlit semi-final, just couple of hours after Pakistan had overcome New Zealand by six wickets, to send a passionate sub-continent cricket fans into frenzied celebration anticipating Monday’s final.
India’s fairytale story continues. In a tournament in which few gave them a chance, they have now played three successive high-quality games, each performance a little better from the previous one. India’s achievement has been especially remarkable as they do not have a coach, with the board still looking for a replacement since Australian Greg Chappell quit in April.
The team effort of India in this tournament can be seen through this statistics:
| Innings | Runs | Strike Rate | |
| Gautam Gambhir | 5 | 152 | 125.61 |
| MS Dhoni | 5 | 148 | 134.54 |
| Yuvraj singh | 4 | 134 | 235.08 |
| V Sehwag | 5 | 133 | 138.54 |
| RV Uthappa | 5 | 105 | 117.94 |
| RP Sharma | 2 | 58 | 128.88 |
Pakistan who has never ever won any match against India in World Cup, would try hard to break the jinx whereas India would try to keep that record.
The two teams have remarkable similarity – Both are without their big players. Pakistan have a new coach whereas India don’t even have one. But the results has been very positive for both the teams in this tournament.
The two teams differ in strategy. India have defied conventional Twenty20 wisdom by choosing to set targets and have won all their matches batting first, whereas Pakistan have won their last three matches chasing. In the earlier clash between the two rivals India batted first, Pakistan chased and ended up with an identical score, although India won that match by 3-0 (Isn’t it funny to see football score in Cricket?) through “bowl out”.
