Mumbai, Apr 2 (ANI): Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara won a bizarre toss in his second attempt at the start of today's World Cup final against India.
Match referee Jeff Crowe couldn't hear Sangakkara's initial call due to crowds noise, and Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was already on his way to speak to Ravi Shastri after winning the toss in first call.
The noise from a capacity 35,000-plus crowd, greeted the flip of the coin by Dhoni again for the second time, but the Indian captain was not lucky this time.
India chose Shantha Sreesanth at the expense of off-spinner R Ashwin, with left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra being unavailable because of a finger injury.
For Sri Lanka, Muttiah Muralitharan was unsurprisingly passed fit for the final match of his record-breaking international career despite his various recent ailments.
India kept the dreams of billions alive after sinking Pakistan by 29 runs in their World Cup semi-final on Wednesday to set up an all-Asian final against Sri Lanka.
Teams:
India: Virender Shewag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (c), Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and S Sreesanth.
Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (c), Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Lasith Malinga, Suraj Randiv, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chamara Kapugedera and Thisara Perera.
India kept the dreams of billions alive after sinking Pakistan by 29 runs in their World Cup semi-final on Wednesday to set up an all-Asian final against Sri Lanka.
The 1983 champions posted 260-9 and then returned to bowl out their neighbours for 231 in 49.5 overs to spark jubilant celebrations at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.
Sri Lanka qualified for the ICC world cup finals beating New Zealand by five wickets in at the R. Premadasa stadium in Colombo on Tuesday. (ANI)
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