Sunday June 21
Start time 1500 local (1400 GMT)
Big Picture
On the morning of March 3 in Lahore, the world of cricket was shaken to the core. The horrific attack on the Sri Lankan team bus, as it pulled into the Gadaffi Stadium ahead of the third day of the second Test against Pakistan, was the moment a thousand preconceptions were destroyed. Cricket's presumptions to diplomatic immunity had been mocked by the forces of evil, and as Pakistan spiralled into sporting exile and Sri Lanka's traumatised players rushed home to the bosom of their families, the obvious reaction was to wonder "what now?" for the great game.
Three and a half months later, and sport's great gift for reinvention has delivered a contest that flicks two fingers at the perpetrators of the Lahore atrocity, and proves that - without wishing to overload the sentiment - the human spirit cannot be crushed by cold calculation. Pakistan and Sri Lanka will take center stage at Lord's on Sunday for the final of the most joyful international tournament the game has arranged in years. Twenty20 may be cricket for hedonists, but after everything these two teams and their respective nations have been through of late, the need to lay on a party suddenly feels like the only serious obligation.
"It is a fitting reward for the courage of the team in the way they have played the tournament," said Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka's statesmanlike captain. "All the players have got through Lahore, but what it brought home to us is that we are just the same as everyone else. Sometimes it is nice to be reminded of your mortality, especially when the press and everyone else blows you up to be more than that in this sporting culture. But we've shown no fear and we've gone to play cricket, and it's a fitting reward for that attitude."
If Sri Lanka enter the final as favourites, it is only by dint of their exceptional consistency throughout the tournament. Unlike South Africa, the one-dimensional steamrollers who were spectacularly upstaged by the mercurial Pakistanis at Trent Bridge, Sri Lanka's unbeaten run owes itself, if you like, to a Barcelona-style carousel system, in which the identity of the day's gamebreaker is impossible to call until the damage has already been done. One day, Ajantha Mendis will sweep through the midfield, the next it's Lasith Malinga, while Muttiah Muralitharan's enduring class allows no liberties to be taken against his four overs. And then, every once in a while, up will pop a totally random destroyer, such as Angelo Mathews, the three-wicket wrecking ball against West Indies on Friday.
And yet, Pakistan have developed some serious momentum in the latter stages of the tournament. Their captain, Younis Khan, laughed in the face of their group-stage trouncing against England, dismissing Twenty20 cricket as "fun", and later likened it to WWF wrestling as well. His comments caused consternation at the time, particularly for the thousands of passionate Pakistan fans whose presence and exuberance at all matches have been among the highlights of the competition. But internally, his words had a soothing effect on a side that had lacked meaningful match practice since a low-key one-day series in UAE. As soon as they hit their stride with a walloping of New Zealand at Lord's, Younis' impassioned defence of his star bowler, Umar Gul, in the face of ball-tampering insinuations, left no-one in any doubt as to the galvanised nature of their campaign.
Gul's peerless death bowling remains one reason why Pakistan have the potential to go one step better than in 2007, when Misbah-ul-Haq's traumatic aberration delivered India a five-run victory and instigated a Twenty20 revolution. Shahid Afridi's big-game mentality and bamboozling legspin is another. Set against their wiles is the sensational form and innovative eye of Tillakaratne Dilshan, who produced his most orthodox innings of the tournament on Friday and still came within ten yards of posting the second century in Twenty20 international history.
But whatever happens, it's all about to come down to 40 overs of fiesta cricket in front of a packed house at Lord's, and on this occasion, the old adage "to the victors, the spoils" somehow doesn't seem fitting. Sunday's final is not merely a celebration of cricket, it is a celebration of life. And that's a very serious reason to abandon any lingering hang-ups about the place of 20-over cricket in the grander scheme of the game, and simply get on with the important business of letting the hair down. Joie de vivre has carried these two teams into the final, and it will sustain them in victory or defeat.
Tournament record
(most recent first)
Pakistan WWWLWL
Sri Lanka WWWWWW
Watch out for...
Tillakaratne Dilshan has been the tournament's outstanding run-maker, and one of the format's great innovators as well, with his so-called "Dilscoop" turning back-of-a-length dot-balls into undefendable boundaries over the keeper's head. His tally of 317 runs - almost double the number of any other player in the final - have come at an average of 63.40 and a strike rate of nearly three runs every two balls, but his magnificent 96 not out in the semi-final victory over West Indies was especially notable for its normality. He simply middled every shot he attempted, and with 14 boundaries to 15 dot-balls, it reeked of a serious batsman in princely form.
Umar Gul
Daniel Vettori was so bewildered by Gul's mastery of line, length and late swing during New Zealand's Super Eight derailment that after the game he (unwittingly or otherwise) called into question the honesty of the methods employed. Younis' reaction was apoplectic, as he demanded an end to the suspicions that habitually surround Pakistani success, and instead called for an acknowledgment of a bowler at the absolute peak of his powers. Gul's figures that day of 5 for 6 may prove to be Laker-esque in their endurance in the record-books, but subsequent performances have shown it was no one-off. His appearance, invariably in the second ten overs of an innings, can bring all momentum to a shuddering halt.
Team news
Umar Gul
Daniel Vettori was so bewildered by Gul's mastery of line, length and late swing during New Zealand's Super Eight derailment that after the game he (unwittingly or otherwise) called into question the honesty of the methods employed. Younis' reaction was apoplectic, as he demanded an end to the suspicions that habitually surround Pakistani success, and instead called for an acknowledgment of a bowler at the absolute peak of his powers. Gul's figures that day of 5 for 6 may prove to be Laker-esque in their endurance in the record-books, but subsequent performances have shown it was no one-off. His appearance, invariably in the second ten overs of an innings, can bring all momentum to a shuddering halt.
Team news
Both teams may want to retain their winning line-ups.
Pakistan (probable) 1 Kamran Akmal (wk), 2 Shahzaid Hasan, 3 Shahid Afridi, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Younis Khan (capt), 6 Misbah-ul-Haq, 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Fawad Alam, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Mohammad Aamer.
Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Silva, 6 Jehan Mubarak, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Isuru Udana, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Ajantha Mendis.
Stats and Trivia
Pakistan and Sri Lanka have both contested two 50-over World Cup finals in the past, with one victory and one defeat apiece. Pakistan beat England in the final at Melbourne in 1992, then lost to Australia at Lord's in 1999. Sri Lanka beat Australia at Lahore in 1996, then lost to the Aussies at Bridgetown in 2007.
Pakistan, of course, contested the inaugural World Twenty20 final as well, when they lost by 5 runs against India at Johannesburg.
All five of the tournament's leading wicket-takers will be on display in the final. Mendis, Gul, Malinga and Ajmal have all taken 12 wickets, Afridi is tucked in behind them on 10.
Click here for more stats.
Quotes
"Sanath is always a big-match player. He's won a lot of matches for us in the past, and I think he's going to win a lot more in the next few years as well. As long as he's fit and is performing, we are happy to have him in the side. I think he'll do something special in the final."
Sri Lanka's captain Kumar Sangakkara talks up the form and focus of Sanath Jayasuriya, who was off-colour during the semi-final victory over West Indies.
"I used to think of myself as a batsman three to four years ago because that is how everyone started to think of me. But I was moved around so much the order that I just went back to concentrating on bowling. I told Younis I wanted to bat up the order and it worked."
Shahid Afridi concedes that bowling is his strongest suit these days, despite his destructive batting against South Africa at Trent Bridge.
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