Fairytale and tragedy guaranteed for opposing legends

After a tournament of unprecedented fabulousness, the 2011 Cricket World Cup concludes tonight in Mumbai between the dramatic but fallible India, and top-heavy but spectacular Sri Lanka. Although both nations will richly deserve their success if they are victorious tonight, millions of Cricket fans the world over will feel a tinge of sadness thanks to a fairytale final showdown for two of the game's all time greats. There is an almost cruel dramatic perfection to the script that this World Cup has come down to Sachin Tendulkar and Muttiah Muralitharan's teams.

Tonight's match will be Muralitharan's final international for Sri Lanka. The situation is not so black and white for Tendulkar and certainly he looks destined to dominate Test Cricket for more years yet, but surely it is too much to expect him down under in 2015 for a dizzying seventh World Cup campaign at age 41. Their showdown is so perfect and cruel not merely because both men are the greatest Cricketers their countries have ever produced (which both are almost without question), but because both have forever altered the very fabric of not just their Cricket teams, but their nations themselves.

India has always been a cricketing stronghold, but largely because of the nation's origins as a British colony. India were perpetual seller-dwellers in the grand scheme of Test Cricket, and uniformly uninterested in ODI cricket until the spectacular World Cup triumph of 1983. That began the modern age of Indian cricket, where India stands still for important cricketing occasions, and controls 80% of the sport's financial assets. Sachin Tendulkar was the hero Indian cricket needed and largely thanks to his genius, India are at the top of the game on and off the field, and look set to stay entrenched there for decades to come. Further evidence of Sachin's influence is easy to come by when one looks at the media and public attention which follow the little master 24/7, to levels far beyond even Western Paparazzo standards. One man on Cricinfo exclaimed emotionally that he will never watch Cricket again after Tendulkar retires.

As for Sri Lanka, they are still in grand terms a baby of a nation, and were a Cricketing minnow until granted Test status in the 1990s. Murali has played for all but three years of Sri Lanka's existence as a Test playing nation and surely no-one would dispute that he is Sri Lanka's greatest cricketer, even accounting for the likes of Ranatunga, De Silva, Jayasuriya, Jayawardene and Sangakkara. Like India, Cricket is the be-all and end-all for so many Sri Lankans, but as a small island without the wider influences and interests of India, the journalistic hyperbole that 'every single person' literally stops for Cricket, may actually be closer to the truth. The fact of that matter is that Murali is often referred to as the greatest Sri Lankan of all time period. His captain Kumar Sangakkara said exactly that after their semi-final win over New Zealand. Not even Bradman can quite scale those heights in Australia.

The tragedy of the situation of course is that one of these men must end their World Cup careers with a loss. Although my support stands with Sri Lanka (by virtue of having picked them as my favourites to win the World Cup months ago), the lesser tragedy would be an Indian win. Murali at least has won a World Cup in 1996, and were Sri Lanka to win, the greatest player of our generation, perhaps of many generations, would end his career without a World Cup. That would be a travesty. But then perhaps it would be a blessing in disguise, and motivate the great man to come out here in four years time? What a privilege to witness that would be.

As for the Cricket, it is an intriguing contest with neither team having set the world sufficiently alight to feel unbeatable. Beyond Zaheer Khan and the unlikely hero Yuvraj Singh, India's bowling has lacked any consistent penetration, but they have shown to be the team for pressure situations in the last two matches and have shored up the middle order jitters from early in the tournament. Sri Lanka in turn choked and spluttered their way over the line against New Zealand, and their middle order remains every bit as utterly unconvincing as it did two months ago. But I stand by Sri Lanka as my pick. The top four of Tharanga, Dilshan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene have been mighty in the tournament even beyond India's top order, and their bowlers are clearly superior in variety and wicket-taking nous. The key for Sri Lanka is to avoid exposing their middle order too early if batting first, or even worse, exposing them to a tight chase. If the game gets tight and tense, then expect India to find a way home.

Prediction Of The Day - Formula 1

Australian Grand Prix - Starting Grid Prediction

         1. S.Vettel                                                                          

Red Bull                                           2. M.Webber

                                                         Red Bull 

3. F.Alonso                                                                

    Ferrari                                           4. L.Hamilton

                                                           McLaren

 5. M.Schumacher                                                      

              Mercedes                                       6. N.Rosberg            

                                                         Mercedes

 7. J.Button                                                                  

          McLaren                                        8. V.Petrov           

                                                     Renault

         9. F.Massa                                                                          

       Ferrari                                          10. K.Kobayashi

                                                         Sauber

11. R.Barrichello                                                        

    Williams                                     12. N.Heidfeld

                                                        Renault

    13. S.Buemi                                                                     

    Toro Rosso                                  14. A.Sutil       

                                                       Force India

                15. J.Alguersuari                                                                        

Toro Rosso                                 16. S.Perez

                                                       Sauber

17. P.Maldonado                                                         

          Williams                                       18. P.Di Resta      

                                                             Force India 

        
         19. H.Kovalainen                                                                  

Lotus                                          20. J.Trulli

                                                       Lotus

21. T.Glock                                                                   

         Virgin                                           22. J.D'Ambrosio

                                                       Virgin

The HRT's of Karthikeyan and Liuzzi will fail to qualify.

Unnecessarily partisan prediction of the day: November 26

Simon Katich looks every bit a man who could make an enterprising and typically unorthodox looking double century. Clarke and North will surely fail but I have faith in Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin who will go to stumps unbeaten on 123 and a run a ball 62, following Katich's dismissal for 211. Australia 5/412.

Gratuitously detailed prediction of the day

CRICKET
Australia vs England, 1st Test


England to make 391, bowled out 4 overs into the 2nd day. Both Day 2 and 3 will be rain shortened but provide sufficient time for Australia to make 466. England to collapse from 3/160 to be all out for 193 in the 2nd innings, which is fortunate because Australia would have collapsed chasing a target any harder. As such, Australia struggle their way to 5/118.

Australia win by 5 wickets.