It wasn't India at it's fluent best, but they won. It wasn't Tendulkar at his fluent best, but he was man of the match. Untilmately, the fact that Tendulkar battled his way to 85 (off 115 balls) made the difference, as Pakistan's top scorer, Misbah-ul-Haq finished on 56. The 29 runs between the two top scorers was also the margin between the two sides. Not that Misbah could be blamed...he was last out, in the last over, his teammates unable to stay with him, after the top three had gone. Probably Mohammad Hafeez was the man who needed to stick around - his 43 from 59 seemed to be pacing the chase nicely, and his dismissal started Pakistan's fall to their ultimate demise.
Earlier, Pakistan had done well to restrict India to 260. Sehwag blasted India away, and Tendulkar and Gambhir powered them on. Had you heard that Shahid Afridi went wicketless, and that Umar Gul had 0/69 off eight overs, you might have thought India had made something like 4/350. Had you heard they also didn't hit a six, you might have been very confused. That they were restricted to 260 owed something to a sluggish pitch, but a lot to Wahab Riaz, who chipped away to finish with 5/46. It seemed like a decent score to have to chase down, but there was some nervousness around India's inclusion of Nehra at the expense of Ashwin.
Dhoni later admitted they had misread the pitch, although ultimatley, Nehra would finish with the best figures as all five Indian bowlers took two wickets. Yuvraj Singh may have had a rare miss with the bat in this tournament, going first ball, but took the important two wickets of Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan. Umar Akmal spoilt his figures with some well struck blows, but Harbhajan put one threw him, leaving Afridi as Pakistan's only real hope. He started well enough to give hope, but when he mishit a Harbhajan full toss, Pakistan were headed for the exit.
So on to the final. Both India and Sri Lanka were unconvincing in their semi-final wins, but it feels like Sri Lanka have their noses in front. Both sides are reliant on their top order for many of their runs, but Sri Lanka may well have the edge in the bowling stakes. India has the home ground advantage, but whether the burden of pressure from the crowd outweighs the support remains to be seen. Ultimately, it may come down to Tendulkar. On the stage where a player of his pedigree deserves to play, he may be able to finally drive his team to victory. Could there be a more fitting place to bring up a remarkable 100th international hundred?
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