In a form of cricket dominated by batsmen, two bowlers are crucial to Sunday’s contest: Irfan Pathan and Muttiah Muralitharan. A contrasting pair: one an effervescent bowler in his first eight months at the top, the other a legend, joint world-record holder in Test match wickets. Irfan leads the ODI bowling charts for the calendar year 2004 with 36 wickets from 18 games, Murali’s third with 23 wickets from 12. Chandresh Narayanan stacks them upIrfan Pathan (Left-arm medium fast)• Best show in 2004: 4/24 vs Zimbabwe, Perth• Best at Asia Cup: 3-28 v UAE, Dambulla• Performance in Asia Cup (5 matches): 12 (W), 16.25 (Avg), 4.31 (Eco), 22.5 (S/R)• Best vs Sri Lanka: 2-34 at Colombo, 2004IRFAN ON THE FINALTo bowl the second last over and put your team in a good position was a fine performance. But I want to do better in the final. You want to put in your best, make that extra effort.SACHIN ON IRFANHe has an ability which not many left-arm fast bowlers have. He can swing the ball in, it’s a gift from God. He can bowl it consistently and knows its value. We want to stay right behind him and be there when he requires supportMuttiah Muralitharan (Right-arm off-spin)• Best show in 2004: 5/23 vs Zimbabwe, Harare• Best at Asia Cup: 3-21 vs UAE, Dambulla• Performance in Asia Cup (4 matches): 6 (W) 17.83 (Avg) 2.81 (Eco) 38.0 (S/R)• Best vs India: 7-30 at Sharjah, 2000-01MURALI ON THE FINALThey (Indians) are all good batsmen but it is a matter of how well they are batting on a day and how well I am bowling on that day. It is a mental game and extra spin remains my most potent weapon in this battleATAPATTU ON MURALIIf you take our team as a whole, Murali is the most respected cricketer, performance-wise, in our team. He is one of the best cricketers the world will ever get to see
