India (Ind) takes on Sri Lanka (SL) in the final of the cricket ICC World Cup 2011 tournament today, at Mumbai, India. The Ind vs SL match starts at 2:30pm, and the live scores will appear on this page.
After a spectacular
win against Pakistan in a much-hyped semi-final, India is now one step away from winning the cricket ODI World Cup, the biggest trophy in cricket, after 28 long years. The nation appears to have taken it for granted that India will win the World Cup, but the opponents are formidable.
Sri Lanka has plenty of stalwarts including Muralitharan, Malinga, Sangakkara, Dilshan and Jayawardane, and it has made its way to the final with least fuss. It does not have the burden of pressure, is familiar with the conditions, and has beaten India 7 times in finals since 2000 (and lost just twice). Plus, Sri Lanka won the toss (after some weird mix-up), and that should give them a huge advantage, since the team playing second is under additional pressure.
India has played some very taxing and draining matches in the past couple of weeks, and the burden of expectations is not going to make things any easier. However, Tendulkar knows that this is arguably the most important match of the rest of his career, and that is perhaps India's biggest advantage. Plus, Sehwag hasn't really fired in a while, and the law of averages should help now.
Sreesanth has been included instead of Ashish Nehra, and has a huge job ahead of him in trying to restrict Sri Lanka to a modest total. And Muralitharan is part of the Sri Lanka team, and this will be the last ODI for the world's leading wicket-taker.
The match today is expected to be massive in terms of interest, TV viewership and ad rates. It has been billed as a match of Tendulkar vs Muralitharan, more because of their being the largest run-getter and the largest wicket-taker of cricket respectively, but equally because this is the last World Cup for both the legends.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat against India. Get the India vs Sri Lanka live score and live scorecard on fullhyd.com. Here is the latest Ind vs SL live score:
India: 277/4 (48.2 overs, Run Rate: 5.73)
V Sehwag lbw b Malinga 0 (2b 0x4 0x6)
S Tendulkar c Sangakkara b Malinga 18 (14b 2x4 0x6)
G Gambhir b Perera 97 (122b 9x4 0x6)
V Kohli c & b Dilshan 35 (49b 4x4 0x6)
MS Dhoni (not out) 91 (79b 8x4 1x6)
Yuvraj Singh (not out) 21 (24b 2x4 0x6)
Extras: 15 (b1, lb6, w8)
Sri Lanka: 274/6 (50 overs; Run Rate: 5.48)
Upul Tharanga c Sehwag b Khan 2 (20b 0x4 0x6)
Tillakaratne Dilshan b Harbhajan Singh 33 (49b 3x4 0x6)
KC Sangakkara c Dhoni b Yuvraj Singh 48 (67b 5x4 0x6)
Mahela Jayawardene (not out) 103 (88b 13x4 0x6)
TT Samaraweera lbw b Yuvraj Singh 21 (34b 2x4 0x6)
CK Kapugedera c Raina b Khan 1 (5b 0x4 0x6)
Nuwan Kulasekara run out (Dhoni) 32 (30b 1x4 1x6)
NLTC Perera (not out) 22 (9b 3x4 1x6)
Extras: 12 (b1, lb3, w6, nb2)
Here is the
the 2011 World Cup points table.