In sublime form, Men in Blue favourites to win WT20 title, writes Amit Chaudhary
On Sunday, when Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni steps out of the dressing room of the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, life would have come full circle for him and his youngistan team. For, it was this same tournament seven years back that launched his captaincy after India's woeful ouster from the Group stage of the 2007 Caribbean World Cup under the captainship of Rahul Dravid. The memories of the long-haired Dhoni's triumph in South Africa later that year, when, as a rookie skipper, he led a bunch of inexperienced but talented youngsters to the ICC World T20 title are still fresh on our minds.
Since then, much water has flown down the Ganges. India have seen the high of 50-50 World Cup win at home in 2011, the low of winless tours to England and Australia, the departure of legendary cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, and the rise and rise of the T20 format through franchise-based leagues. Cricket is no longer a time-pass entertainment. There are players who specialise in this format. And India will face a couple of them today when they play Sri lanka in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 Final.
This Final is special for both teams in many ways. Apart from the obvious that it's a world championship final, the match will be the last T20 international for two Sri lankan greats — Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. For Dhoni and India it will be the golden chance to complete cricket's grand slam — three world titles being with Team India for the first time ever.
India and Sri lanka have a long history of high-stake battles. Be it 1996 World Cup semi-final at Eden Gardens when the islanders demolished Men in Blue or more recently Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni snatching away the 2011 World Cup in Mumbai, the two teams have given each other hard times on the cricket field.
Over the years, they have played so much cricket against each other that there is hardly anything that can surprise any of them. The familiarity, however, doesn't produce boring cricket. In fact, it has taken the contest to the next level where more than the strategy, it's a test of nerves. It's more of who-blinks-first than domination of one side.
But, under the calm and confident leadership of Dhoni, India have made it a habit to not lose big matches and a couple of them have been against Sri lanka. On the other hand, Sri lanka have struggled to find a consistent leader. After playing merry-go-round with Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Tilakratne Dilshan, Sri lanka have now added Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and lasith Malinga to that list.
The 2014 WT20 campaign of the two teams have also progressed in completely different manner. While India have put behind the torrid time they spent on foreign tours and dominated the group league stage, Sri lanka, who won Asia Cup win on the same soil a couple of weeks back, have managed to keep their campaign on track more by individual brilliances and less by team efforts. Probably, the emotions of it being the last T20 match for two of their greatest batsmen have given them enough strength to return victorious from the brink of a defeat more than once. With every fight back, you almost feel it is meant to be something big for Sri lanka and the pair of Sangakkara and Jayawardene. But that has been the case with them for a long time now. Together Sangakkara and Jayawardene have lost four world finals now.
Dhoni, fresh from his injury-forced break, has shown the shrewdness of his old-self. He has backed his bowlers, gone after wickets than restricting the batsmen and even changed the winning combination to put best XI on the field. His team has also responded superbly with Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra combining well to exploit the helpful conditions and ensure that India don't go through a single bad-bowling day. The batting unit led by Virat Kohli, presently one of the world's best batsmen, has risen up to every challenge. As a result, India are on the brink of becoming the first team to go unbeaten through the World T20.