India-Sri Lanka final: Head-to-head

For Sachin Tendulkar,37,it is his sixth and probably last chance to lift the trophy for India. He made his first World Cup appearance on Feb. 22 1992 in Perth aged 18. He is the leading runscorer in World Cup matches,with 2,260 runs at 57.94 from 44 games,including six hundreds.

He made his first-class debut at Wankhede Stadium in December 1988 for Bombay against Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy and scored an unbeaten hundred. He is one short of his 100th hundred in international cricket.

Sri Lanka has twice been involved in World Cup finals,beating Australia at Lahore in 1996 and losing to the Australians in the last edition in 2007. The Sri Lankans will hope that India has already played its 8220;final8221; against Pakistan in the semifinal at Mohali.

Veteran spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan,39 on April 17,will play his last match for Sri Lanka,his 350th ODI. He has competed in five World Cups and is the only survivor from Sri Lanka8217;s 1996 final win. Despite injury he took two wickets in a full 10-over stint in the semifinal against New Zealand,including the wicket of Scott Styris off the last delivery he bowled in Sri Lanka.

Facts and figures relating to the World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium,Mumbai on Saturday.

Previous World Cup finals

India has only won the World Cup once,in 1983 at Lord8217;s when it beat the overwhelming favorites and holders West Indies by 43 runs in a low-scoring match. India was 183 all out,Kris Srikkanth top-scoring with 38. West Indies were dismissed for 140 with Madan Lal and Mohinder Amarnath taking three wickets each.

India was beaten by Australia in the final in Johannesburg in 2003 by 125 runs. Sourav Ganguly put Australia in to bat and the Aussies racked up 359-2,with Ricky Ponting scoring 140 off 121 balls. The first over of the match bowled by Zaheer Khan went for 15 runs and after nine overs Australia was 74-0. Tendulkar was out fifth ball for four and India subsided to 234 all out.

Sri Lanka has been involved in World Cup finals twice: In 1996 the Sri Lankans beat Australia at Lahore by seven wickets. Sri Lanka put the Australians in to bat in cool conditions and they made 241-7,losing six wickets to spinners with Mark Taylor scoring 74. In reply Sri Lanka lost both openers with 23 runs on the board before Asanka Gurusinha with 65 and Aravinda de Silva with 107 not out added 125 for the third wicket.

In 2007,Sri Lanka lost to Australia by 53 runs D/L method in a rain-affected match. Australia made 281-4 off 38 overs,Adam Gilchrist starring with 149 off 104 balls,the biggest hundred in a final. Sri Lanka made 215-8 off 36 overs. The game descended into farce because the match officials did not know that only 20 overs were needed to achieve a result using Duckworth/Lewis. It led to the players being instructed to go back onto the field in darkness at 6.16 p.m. to bowl three more overs having gone off for bad light minutes earlier. Jeff Crowe was the match referee. Crowe is again match referee for the Mumbai final.

Head-to-head record:

India lead 67-50 NR: 11

In the World Cups: Sri Lanka lead 4-2

In the sub-continent: India lead 59-46 NR: 9

Results in last five head-to-head ODIs

22 Jun 2010 Dambulla: Sri Lanka won by seven wickets

24 Jun 2010 Dambulla: India won by 81 runs

16 Aug 2010 Dambulla: India won by six wickets

22 Aug 2010 Dambulla: Sri Lanka won by eight wickets

28 Aug 2010 Dambulla: Sri Lanka won by 74 runs

At the Wankhede,they are tied at 1-1. India won the first encounter by 10 runs in 1987. In 1997 Sri Lanka beat India by five wickets.

Both teams finished second in their respective groups. Sri Lanka lost to Pakistan and had a washed out tie against Australia. India lost to South Africa and tied against England.

Besides the hiccup against Pakistan,Sri Lanka beat Canada by 210 runs,Kenya by nine wickets,Zimbabwe by 139 runs and New Zealand by 112 runs. They thumped England by 10 wickets in the last eight before defeating New Zealand again in the semi-finals by five wickets.

India have had a more bumpy ride as they enjoyed two comfortable wins 8212; beating Bangladesh by 87 runs and West Indies by 80 runs 8212; were stretched before beating second tier teams Ireland and Netherlands by five wickets,tied with England and suffered a three-wicket loss to South Africa. However,a five-wicket win over four-times champions Australia and a 29-run win against Pakistan in the knockout rounds will have boosted them.

As the Indians have been tested,they are likely to withstand pressure better than Sri Lanka,whose middle order,till the semi-finals,had faced a total of 29 balls in six games.

The top order of both the teams dominate the run scoring charts. Sri Lanka have their top three batsmen in the Top 5 run scorers of this World Cup,with Tillakaratne Dilshan 467 runs leading the tally. Kumar Sangakkara 417 runs and Upul Tharanga 393 runs at numbers four and five respectively.

For India,Sachin Tendulkar is once close to being the leading run scorer as he is three runs behind Dilshan 464 runs. India have two more batsmen in the Top 10,with Virender Sehwag 380 runs and Yuvraj Singh 341 runs at numbers six and eight respectively.

India have two more batsmen,Gautam Gambhir 296 runs and Virat Kohli 247 runs at numbers 15 and 20 respectively,they have no other batsmen in the Top 30.

India will need to take wickets as the Sri Lankan top order have stunning averages 8212; Sangakkara topping the league with 104.25,and Dilshan 66.71 and Tharanga 65.50 not doing badly either.

Sri Lanka will have to curb the rate of run flow at the top of the batting order with Sehwag scoring at a strike rate of 123.37.

On the bowling front,Zaheer Khan 19 wickets and Yuvraj Singh 13 wickets have led the way for India. Muttiah Muralitharan 15 wickets and Lasith Malinga 11 wickets have provided Sri Lanka the breakthroughs when they needed it. Dilshan seven wickets at an average of 14.14 has bowled very well in the last few matches

Where Sri Lanka seem to have a distinctive edge is in the economy of their bowling figures. Ajantha Mendis at 3.14 RPO,Dilshan at 3.80,Muralitharan at 4.00,Rangana Herath at 4.27. Harbhajan Singh with an economy of 4.41,heads the list for India but is at a lowly 36th ranked place.

More teams batting first 11-6 have emerged victorious at the Wankhede.

Wankhede Stadium

Of th 17 ODI matches played on this ground,10 have been under lights. Tendulkar has played 10 ODIs here,more than any other player.

India8217;s record is: Played 14 for 8 wins and 6 losses. In floodlit games,India has won 5 of 9.

Sri Lanka record is: Played 4 for 2 wins and 2 losses. Sri Lanka has won both its floodlit games at the venue.

The average score batting first in floodlit games is 231.

In floodlit games,6 out of 10 have been won by the side batting first.

Players to watch: India

Yuvraj Singh has been one of the best allrounders in the tournament with 341 runs at 85.25 and 13 wickets at 25.23,including a career best 5-31 against Ireland. His success has solved the problem of the fifth bowler for India. He has been man-of-the-match four times in this tournament,against Ireland,the Netherlands,West Indies and Australia.

Players to watch: Sri Lanka

Kumar Sangakkara will be hoping to emulate Arjuna Ranatunga and lead Sri Lanka to World Cup glory. Sangakkara has captained Sri Lanka 44 times and won 27,lost 13 ODI8217;s with four no results. He wins 61.36 of games,more than any other regular Sri Lankan captain.

Sangakkara is the fourth leading runscorer in this World Cup with 417 at 104.25,with one century and three 50s. He is equal top in the wicketkeeping stakes alongside Brad Haddin with 13 dismissals consisting of nine catches and four stumpings.

Decisions,decisions

India has asked for 14 reviews resulting in three decisions being changed. Sri Lanka has had one decision out of nine altered on review.

Milestones

Mahendra Singh Dhoni needs 42 for 6,000.

Gautam Gambhir needs 24 for 4,000.

Virat Kohli needs 81 for 2,000.

Tendulkar needs one hundred for 100 international hundreds.

Upul Tharanga needs 104 for 4,000.

Kumar Sangakkara needs 54 and Mahela Jayawardene 114 for 2,000 each against India.

Sangakkara needs 57 and Jayawardene 128 for 1,000 World Cup runs.

Muralitharan needs three wickets to equal,four to beat Glenn McGrath8217;s record of 71 World Cup wickets.