Tendulkar's Dream:Mumbai set for Tendulkar's dream final

Mumbai, March 31 (AFP): A billion hearts will beat for Sachin Tendulkar as India bid for their instant World Cup title in the all-Asian concluding against buoyant Sri Lanka on Saturday.

Tendulkar proceeds to his home turf at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai reached the conclusion to add the sole silverware missing for the collection of the most celebrated cricketer of the current era.

The Indian star, who turns 38 approaching month, holds about all coveted batting records, but not nonetheless his individual brilliance could win the closing prize in a team sport like cricket.

In five earliest appearances in cricket's showpiece event, Tendulkar helped India get through to the semi-final at home in 1996 and conclusion runners-up to Australia in 2003 in South Africa.

When India won the World Cup below Kapil Dev in 1983, Tendulkar was 10 ages old, but thre of his current team-mates - Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla and Munaf Patel - got not significantly born.

Playing in his sixth and more than likely the preceding World Cup, a record he shares with Pakistan superior Javed Miandad, Tendulkar has led from what i read in the front to lift India into the final.

His 464 runs in the tournament are simply three behind Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan's 467, and he goes to the title clash one ton away based on recording an unprecedented 100 overseas centuries.

Tendulkar's lucky 85 in Wednesday's semi-final against Pakistan, when he was dropped five times and survived close leg-before and stumping decisions, suggests he was destined to play the final.

"It will be a fantasic occasion," Tendulkar claimed of the balance in his house city. "We plans to focus on the job in hand and try to get the job done."

Even the International Cricket Council is planning to be exultant how the tournament has panned out.

"Can you anticipate a fairytale ending with Tendulkar getting a hundred in the ultimate and India wins at Wankhede that is his piece of real estate ground?," ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat had believed the previous week.

The mission in the future serves to not be easy against a supremely confident Sri Lanka, who have marched to such a instant successive final once costing recently one match out of eight in the tournament.

Kumar Sangakkara's men, fiddling at structure in Colombo, thrashed England by 10 wickets in the quarter-final before delivering a five-wicket blow to New Zealand in the semi-final.

Sri Lanka, like India, are in addition hunting for their moment World Cup title once lucrative in 1996 when Arjuna Ranatunga's commission stunned Australia in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

Dilshan has led a power-packed display by the batsmen to become the tournament's most major scorer, while Sangakkara has notched up 417 drives and young opener Upul Tharanga has made 393 runs.

World bowling input holder Muttiah Muralitharan, who could make his farewell global occurrence on Saturday, has been his team's a multitude of lucrative bowler with 15 wickets.

Sri Lanka enjoy a formidable bowling attack among sling-arm fast bowler Lasith Malinga (11 wickets) and exotic spinner Ajantha Mendis (seven) complimenting off-spinner Muralitharan.

Indian seamer Zaheer Khan, who should also play on his structure floor in Mumbai, goes to the final in on 19 wickets, second behind Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi's tally of 21.

Sri Lanka have prevailed in the latest one-dayers against India, triumphant six of the 10 matches played survive year in Dhaka, Harare, Bulawayo and Dambulla.

But India have won one of seven matches against the Islanders on structure soil over the survive five years.

India will be tinkering at the refurbished 33,000-capacity Wankhede stadium for the previous time, additonally Sri Lanka know how awaits them having beaten New Zealand by 112 runs in a league matcha at the bottom on March 18.
Source:http://cricket.yahoo.com/cricket/news/article?id=item/2.0/-/story/cricket.yahoonews.com/mumbai-set-tendulkars-dream-final-20110331/