India start as favourites

 

The two best teams in the tournament, and by no coincidence led by the two finest captains, will contest the final. Nothing can be better for what has been an outstanding event. The World Cup has given new life to the 50-over game and it has been hosted with great passion in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and in India. Now it has a dream final.

India will start favourites because they seem the more rounded of the two sides. Yhey have players for most occasions and have batting match-winners of extraordinary pedigree. More important, as the tournament draws to a close, they seem to have a better idea of the combination they must believe will bring the World Cup home.

Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar are the best opening pair of the tournament, though by sheer weight of runs Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan will contest that. After the 175 against Bangladesh, Sehwag has been playing cameos, a bit like a brilliant actor working two shifts and leaving quickly after having delivered his lines impeccably. But even if he only does that, he makes it much easier for the batsmen to follow; especially, he takes the load off Tendulkar, who, apart from a quixotic phase in the semi-final, is batting as well as he ever has. The one thing he doesn't have in his gallery, a winner's medal, is a step away and I will be very interested in seeing how he keeps ambition at arm's length in the final.

India have resolved what is becoming a key position in this World Cup: Suresh Raina has batted with much confidence against Australia and Pakistan. Truly he has won back his spot and it has been wonderful to see him field, an area India are rather thinly endowed in. And Dhoni's extraordinary handling of Yuvraj Singh means he has the option of playing an extra seamer as he did against Pakistan. By working on his bowling Yuvraj has given himself the time to rediscover his batting form, paradoxical as that might seem.

India will come to Mumbai with their confidence soaring after back-to-back wins against opponents against whom they have had their most bruising encounters. And I have no doubt that Dhoni will not allow a win against Pakistan to be rated higher than any other. It cannot be so. It was a semi-final, not a final.

Indeed, Dhoni's leadership has been outstanding. He has backed his hunches and taken calls that might have seemed bizarre at the time, but always he has stayed calm and in control. It is a wonderful quality for a leader to possess. Having taken India to a World Twenty20 title, to the No. 1 spot in Test cricket, he now has the opportunity of winning a World Cup.