India Vs Sri Lanka Asia Cup Final
After a frenetic 11-day period which saw 12 matches, Sri Lanka and India have survived the crammed schedule, the heat, and a few wobbles to make their way to yet another Asia Cup final.
Historically, these two sides have been the strongest in the tournament, winning seven of the eight editions so far; the finals on Sunday will be their sixth meeting in Asia Cup finals.
Bangladesh Television and satellite channel STAR Cricket will show the match live from 4:00 pm Bangladesh time.
The excellent batting pitches have been a constant throughout the tournament, and the teams to survive have been the ones which have utilised these conditions better than others — India and Sri Lanka have easily been the best batting teams of the competition. Both have settled line-ups, with most of their top order in superb form, which points towards another run-fest on Sunday.
With both teams in such exceptional batting touch, the difference in the final could be a key spell from one of the bowlers, or some inspiration in the field. Nine matches have already been played on the same square at the National Stadium, suggesting that spinners might have something to look forward to. Sri Lanka have the clear advantage in that department, with Muttiah Muralidaran and the exciting Ajantha Mendis leading the way.
The other aspect where Sri Lanka have the edge is in the field. India’s exceptional batting has masked their generally sloppy fielding throughout the tournament. Catches have been missed, the ground-fielding has been erratic, and in a crunch game, these factors could well be critical.
Team news
Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 3 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 4 Chamara Kapugedera, 5 Chamara Silva, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Chaminda Vaas, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Ajantha Mendis, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Dilhara Fernando.
India (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 Yusuf Pathan, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Pragyan Ojhan, 10 RP Singh, 11 Ishant Sharma.
Umpires Simon Taufel & Tony Hill. Third umpire Zameer Haider
wait for the live links…………
