Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene and West Indies skipper Darren Sammy with the ICC World T20 trophy
Setting the sights on their maiden ICC World Twenty20 title, Sri Lanka and West Indies will skirmish in a lip-smacking finale at Colombo on Sunday.
Sri Lanka and West Indies sealed spot in the summit clash with the contrasting victories in their semi-finals. The hosts defeated Pakistan by 16 runs in the thrilling 1st semi-final while Caribbean side suppressed Aussies by 74 runs in a one-sided clash.
Explosive Jamaican opener Chris Gayle was again the cornerstone of the West Indian victory over Aussies. He played an outstanding innings of 75 off 41 balls to help his side post the highest total of the tournament – 205-4 –.
The West Indies strategy to bamboozle Australia with their spinners also proved flourishing and Aussies capitulated for 131 in less then 17 overs.
Gayle, will be the biggest hurdle in the Sri Lankan way, and indeed he would have a sharp impact on the bottom-line. His fellow-Jamaican Johnson Charles has failed to demonstrate his flair after hitting the blistering 86 off 54 balls against England in the Super Eight game.
Down the order, the presence of in-form flamboyant hitters Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Marlon Samuels, Andre Russell and indeed skipper Darren Sammy, makes West Indies world’s most formidable batting line-up.
Keeping the same strategy which they adopted against Australia, West Indies are expected to play off-spinner Samuel Badree, who justified his selection against Australia by scalping the two key wickets of openers David Warner and Shane Watson at an economical rate.
Off-spinner Sunil Narine will be the spearhead of the spin attack, which will include part-timers like Gayle and Marlon Samuels. Pacer Ravi Rampual bowled magnificently against Aussies and begged three crucial wickets but Andre Russell failed to though his right line and leaked too many runs. Despite of below-par performance he is unlikely to be replaced by Fidel Edwards.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have the weapons of mass destruction in the visage of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews but barring the tournament opener against Zimbabwe, in which they posted 180-plus total, they have depended on their bowlers.
Pakistan restricted them to a modest total of 139-6 in the semi-final but thanks to their exceptional combination of spin and pace attack, they defended the total to register the spot in the World Twenty20 final for the second time.
Ajantha Mendis would again be the Sri Lanka’s tramp card. Rangana Herath and Jeeven Mendis also know the sculpture to tangle the batsmen with their magical variations.
Pace duo Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara will look to scalp an early breakthrough for Sri Lanka but tackling desperate Gayle will be the biggest challenge for them.
Sri Lanka (Probable):
Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene (capt.), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeevan Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath
West Indies (Probable):
Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy (capt.), Andre Russell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Samuel Badree.