Bhuvneshwar Kumar shapes India-Sri Lanka final

As batsman after batsman came and went in a hasty procession,the locals couldnt help but vent their anger. Most of them had already bought tickets for the final,assuming that the West Indies would be in it.

The rants fell on deaf ears though,as Virat Kohli & Co went about thwarting the Sri Lankan challenge with clinical precision,and booked a place alongside the Lankans for the final on Thursday. Unlike the West Indians,they had been at the wrong end of the table coming into Trinidad. The rains had done them a huge favour. Despite India having scored at a pedestrian rate during their 29 overs,the Lankans had been given a stiff target to overcome in 26 overs.

Fickle pitch

The pitch at Queens Park,owing to its fickleness,is sure to play a huge factor in the outcome of the final. Even those who have followed cricket for decades at Port-of-Spain admit to not knowing exactly how the pitch could end up playing. The recurring showers havent helped either and the track has played differently over the course of the same game.

The dark,gloomy skies ensured that the Queens Park Oval looked a far cry from the sun-baked Caribbean venues that people expect to see in this part of the world. In fact it resembled one of those dreary venues in northern England,where ball often tends to dominate bat by a fair margin.

On Tuesday,once play resumed after a five-hour interval,there was swing in the air and movement off the wicket as well. India couldnt have possessed a more perfect bowler for the conditions than Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

And it seemed quite obvious from Kumars very first over that he had the Sri Lankans on a leash. Of course,it didnt help the Sri Lankan cause that Duckworth & Lewis had dealt them a blow,leaving them with a required-rate of nearly seven. Having already booked a place in the final,the islanders could be excused for lacking the motivation to go hammer and tongs in pursuit of their challenge. They displayed some intent for an over or two,but it withered away in the face of Kumars incisive spell.

First strike

The right-armer hardly bowled a ball that didnt pitch on a good length and whizz past the bat. Before long he had nipped out four Sri Lankans,none of them with magic deliveries but instead as a result of the opposition struggling to lay bat to ball. In six overs,Kumar emboldened his stature as Indias first-choice pick in conditions suited to bowlers. Eventually,he finished with figures of four for eight in six overs in a spell that looked good enough to consume a lot more wickets.

It would have worried batsmen from both teams that the pitch also offered a lot of turn to the spinners with Ravindra Jadeja exploiting it to the fullest. He finished with two wickets and like Rangana Herath earlier in the day got the ball to grip and turn quite a distance off the same wicket that provided bounce and seam movement to the likes of Ishant Sharma and Shaminda Eranga.

While the West Indians are left to lick their wounds,India and Sri Lanka will have their task cut out as they look to overcome stroppy conditions on offer at the Queens Park Oval with the tri-series crown up for grabs.

Brief scores: India 119/3 in 29 overs (R Sharma 49*,V Kohli 31; R Herath 2/32); Sri Lanka (D/L target 178 in 26 overs) 96 all out in 24.4 overs (D Chandimal 26; B Kumar 4/8,R Jadeja 2/17,I Sharma 2/17)

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