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Sports

Cometh the hour
Cometh the hour … cometh the man, it is said of human beings who succeed consistently in the hour of need. The hour has come and this afternoon it will be all or nothing. In a cricket tournament there is one winner, no other medals, no silver, no bronze.

Sri Lanka did not seize the opportunity in their last game against India. In my book Pakistan would have been a lesser threatening opponent than India in the final. They are still a team of extremes. They can be brilliant, as they were against the Indians. The reverse can also happen anytime, as it did against Sri Lanka.

India, on the other hand has world-class players in their ranks. They have players with a tremendous amount of experience. A majority of this team played in the last World Cup final in South Africa. On a big occasion experience does count. Sri Lanka will have to play to their best potential on this occasion.

In terms of balance the home team tips the scales. Their all-round strength and all-round form tips them to go out as favourites. The main bowlers Vaas, Zoysa, Muralitharan and Chandana are all familiar with the condition and are bowling well and bowling cleverly.

Nuwan Zoysa in particular has claimed vital wickets early in the piece. This has been a major plus point. He needs to do it one more time. It has also meant that young Mahroof has not had to come on with the opposition on top. He has blended well into the bowling line-up, contributing his offering to the team. Add the accurate left arm spin of Sanath Jayasuriya and the occasional yet effective off spin of T.M. Dilshan to this attack, a captain could not ask for more to conquer the Premadasa Stadium pitch and the opposition of the day.

More satisfaction can be got by the form displayed by the batsmen. Avishaka Gunawardena is striking the ball well and has been consistent. Sanath Jayasuriya has regained form and in familiar conditions is making hay once more. Captain Marvan Atapattu is capable of delivering the goods at any time.

The middle order trio will have to play a major role. Sangakkara, Jayawardena and Dilshan will have to remember that should they get in and get going, they will have to go until the task is accomplished, Be it batting first - then 300 plus should be the goal - or batting second - then getting the set target should be the goal. This did not happen in the last game against India and so they got close but yet victory eluded Sri Lanka.

India's main strength is their batting. In Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Shewag they have 2 batsmen who can blast any attack in the world. Their wickets will be the prized scalps.

But the, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman trio can all build innings and assure the team gets a big total. To add to that, youngsters Yuvraj Singh and Mohamed Kaif have been good situation players. They can always turn a lost cause around.

Provided the pitch remains good for batting through the game classic cricket could be witnessed. All the pitches produced at the Premadasa Stadium have been superb 1 day surfaces. Use the same recipe and it cannot go wrong.

My prediction is that the batsmen will plunder plenty of runs. Should 2 bowlers in any one of the teams be able to bowl their quota of 10 overs giving away less than 40 runs each then that team will have a distinct advantage in winning the Asia Cup.

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