India all set to ‘Bowl Out’ Pakistan to become Twenty20 World Champion

Sep 24: India meets Pakistan in the historical Summit showdown

Team India is all set to conquer the final frontier against the archrivals Pakistan, after clinching a convincing 15-run victory over World Champions Australia in the semis. The young brigade of India is oozing with confidence and raring to get past any snag to be crowned World Champions. The two Asian giants will take on each other in a fierce battle of the entire tournament, in the final of the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup, later in the evening at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

This is the first challenge between South Asian neighbours, since the 1985 World Championship of Cricket in Melbourne where India romped home by eight wickets. The history is backing up India in their favour, as they have been always the proud winners in all the matches they played in World Cup.

India and Pakistan have made it to the final of the Twenty20 World cup is looking like a dream, as no one expected from either side to make it this far, after the first round exit from the ODI World cup in the Caribbean early this year.

The last match at the Twenty20 World Cup is the mother of all cricket battles as after 26 games we are going to witness this moment between cricket's most fierce rivalries. The teams are geared up for final assault equipped with all the weapons in their armory. Each player must be charged up to come out with his best in this riveting final, but to pick up the clear winner at the end is really difficult.

Indian Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said, “When you go into a big tournament where nobody expect much from you, you are more determined to do well there. That is the motivating factor that is keeping this team moving.”

The onus much lies on the Prince of Chandigarh Yuvraj Singh, as his dazzling form will certainly create the ripples in the opponent’s camp. Dhoni too think that he will be the X-factor for his team in this crucial encounter.

“The way he is batting, I think he’s in real good form and I think it’s because of this determination and the will to do well at this stage,” Dhoni said.

"The pressure will be immense (but) I don't believe in taking pressure and none of my team does either," said Dhoni. "Taking the pressure on board will not help you perform. It will bring down your confidence," he added.

Dhoni’s counterpart Shoaib Malik, Captain, Pakistan Cricket Team said, “It's an India-Pakistan match so players need to realise the additional pressure.”

This is the second meeting between the two sides in the ongoing tournament and the Indians will surely enjoy the psychological advantage of having defeated Pakistan in the only bowl-out of the tournament in their Group D clash.

But the Pakistanis have the upper hand as far as the adaptability of the venue is concerned. Pakistan has the experience of playing under lights; having easily defeated both Sri Lanka and Australia at the same venue while India played five of their six matches in the tournament and they had played their only match at the Wanderers which they lost to Kiwis.

Familiarity with the conditions would definitely put Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik in good stead when he walks out for the toss with Dhoni. Dhoni would not be committing the same mistake of chasing again for sure as what he did against Kiwis after winning the toss and eventually losing out the only match of the tournament thus far.

India will be missing the winning momentum and an unbelievable support of Asians living in Durban but still they will not leave any stone unturned in this high intensity match, where adrenaline is moving high on the nerves of the players of either side to go for the kill.

"It's the biggest stage and the biggest match you can play," said Dhoni soon after the semi-final win over Australia in Durban on Saturday. "It's a match that needs to be played with intensity, and I think we are ready to do that."

The Pakistan seam attack looks much sharper with Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir in their ranks backed by the spinning proficiency of Afridi and Fawad Alam.

India will again hope for fireworks from Yuvraj Singh, while Pakistan will look to Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq for the rollicking start. Rudra Pratap Singh, Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth and Joginder Sharma have all performed well, and with Harbhajan Singh leading the spin attack, Team India will try their hard out in the middle to corner glory and become the part of history.

Irrespective of the final outcome, cricket's latest slam-bang version has been a huge success and with teams from the sub-continent figuring in the final, Twenty20 is certainly here to stay.

Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi heads the overall player of the tournament standings for his 91 runs and 12 wickets, but he is getting neck-to-neck competition with Yuvraj Singh who can possibly be the only man who could beat him in the race.

Indian skipper Dhoni’s mantra is to keep it simple, "Play without pressure, play to enjoy the game, express yourself, and don't worry about the results." It's been a dream run for India, they landed up in South Africa after being beaten in the ODI series by England, and missed the services of three big batting superstars who had opted out and been replaced by fairly unidentified names.

"The first five overs are important but not as much as the last eight overs," Dhoni explained on the eve of the match. "Against New Zealand Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir gave us a terrific start but we couldn't capitalise and played poorly in the last few overs. With wickets in hand even 10-12 runs per over are possible in the last overs." The game against Australia was the perfect example of this strategy, as only 48 came from the first nine overs, while the last 11 yielded 140.

There is a cloud of doubt over Virender Sehwag’s participation, as he will have to pass a fitness test on Monday morning due to groin injury occurred in the semifinal. For Pakistan, the main injury concern is over Imran Nazir, who needed a runner during his 59 against New Zealand after picking up same problem, although he didn't appear in too much pain.

On the Whole, when India meets Pakistan later in the evening, everything would come to standstill in both the countries and the high-intensity final match could see the feel of possible tempers flaying all around with a fitting finale is in the offing for the cricket lovers.

India (Squad): Mahendra Dhoni (Capt.), Dinesh Kaarthick, Ajit Agarkar, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Joginder Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Rudra Pratap Singh, S Sreesanth, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh.

Pakistan ( Squad): Shoaib Malik (Capt.), Kamran Akmal, Abdur Rehman, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Anjum, Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Hafeez, Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat, Younus Khan.