A great chase befitting World Champions

Congratulations to India who managed to take all that pressure on them and still put in a good performance in the final. And particularly to Dhoni who captained well throughout the tournament and stepped up with his batting when required. His decision to move to 5 above Yuvraj in the final - apparently made on the basis that Sri Lanka picked two (or three if you include Dilshan) off-spinners who would be more dangerous to left-handers, was inspired as it turned out.

However, there is no-one else as far as I know, who would have considered it as an option, with Dhoni's top score in the tournament being 34 and Yuvraj averaging in the 80s for the tournament coming into the final. He took a big risk and it came off, and he would have known the pressure he was under so you have to give him huge credit for that. He also took a risk playing Sreesanth (who bowled 8 overs at 6.5 without taking a wicket) - I and many others would have expected them to play Ashwin.

But it was Sri Lanka who unexpectedly weakened their team through strange selections. As an impartial observer, I'm gutted that Mathews got injured because I think the match would have been even closer, and Sri Lanka probably wouldn't have been tempted to change their team. I feel desperately sorry for Ajantha Mendis who bowled fantastically in the tournament to go at the least runs of any bowler - 3.14 - and then got left out of the final. Herath had a relatively poor tournament and you can see why the Sri Lankan's were tempted to bring in Randiv for him, putting right what many saw as a wrong in the original selection.

My man Kulasekara - who I would have brought in for Mathews - batted well, but bowled with too much width, demonstrating how hard it is to come into a match cold and play well. I also felt that he could have made a better attempt at catching Gambhir at long-off during the bowling powerplay and that could have been crucial. Perera did what we know he can do - hit the ball a long way and bowl relatively expensive medium pace. If they wanted to drop Silva and/or play Perera I think they needed to take the chance to bat Perera at 6 rather than play Kapugadera who hadn't played all tournament and has never been successful at international level.

How would a team of Tharanga, Dilshan, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Samaraweera, Perera, Kulasekara, Randiv, Malinga, Mendis, Murali have gone in the final? We'll never know. Personally, I'd have liked them to make just one change to replace Mathews - a side builds up morale and winning momentum through a tournament and then it's partially taken away for the final - it's surely poor selection? Given what they know now, I bet Sri Lanka would have picked Randiv instead of Fernando in their squad, given the pre-eminence of spinners in the tournament.

Overall, I think both sides over-thought things. India played Sreesanth ahead of Ashwin and changed their batting order on the basis of the team Sri Lanka picked. Sri Lanka changed 4 players for the final, only one of them enforced through injury, including dropping the tournament's most economical bowler. Just play your best side irrespective of the opposition!

But Dhoni deserves to bask in glory for now. The pressure on him was immense already before he promoted himself to 5, and even greater then. And he came through, showing immense guts to do so. Congratulations to Dhoni and India, worthy World Cup winners, even if - for the moment - they're still ranked only number 2 in the world in ODIs.

Surprising team selections

Amazing team selections from both teams, but particularly Sri Lanka. Sreesanth playing ahead of Ashwin is a surprise but far less than Sri Lanka leaving out both Herath and Mendis. I know there is a school of thought that India read Mendis easily but Mendis has been in great form and I can't believe they didn't back him to get the better of the Indian batsmen.

How Kapugedera got picked is beyond me. Perhaps he'll score a hundred and win Sri Lanka the game now. What will be interesting to see is how Kulasekera and Perera bowl as they haven't bowled competitively for a while, not to mention Randiv as this will be his first World Cup match. I feel very sorry for Herath and Mendis...but if Sri Lanka can win the match that will make up for it for them.

As well as team selections I also said that the toss would be vital so typical that there should be confusion! But there's more being made of it than necessary - Sangakkara won the original toss as well so nothing has changed apart from Martin Crowe being embarrassed for the second World Cup final in a row!

Sreesanth

I've always wondered what made Sreesanth an international bowler as when I've watched him he's always seemed like someone who doesn't move it much and who isn't quick by international standards. So cannon-fodder then.

But today, watching him against the South African's, was the first time I've seen what Gary Kirsten and the Indian selectors obviously see in him. The balls he bowled to Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher to get rid of them in consecutive balls were brilliant and if it wasn't for his childish antics, he could almost become a bowler I'd admire. I'd always thought he lacked talent and character....perhaps there's only one of those that Gary Kirsten has to work on.

Kallis and South Africa close in on win

It's brilliant to see Jaques Kallis finally getting to 200 - he's an absolutely class act and unlike many - I'd have him in my all-time international cricket XI. Together with centuries from Amla and de Villiers, South Africa look certainties to take a 1-0 lead against the number 1 side in the world.

India look alarmingly poor in the field. It was their batting collapse in the 1st innings that set up the game but their batsmen will bounce back, although they need to get used to playing on bouncy wickets again. Sreesanth, however, is not a good enough bowler to lead an international attack, and Dhoni seems to have forgotten how he became a successful captain. When de Villiers came in on day 2 he was greeted by not a single catcher. That's right - no slips or gully. Dhoni got the job by demonstrating how he could take calculated attacking risks to get wickets and I hope he doesn't forget that. He simply has to attack more if India are to compete, let alone win the series.

Happy Slapping: Part II

Further to Ed's post about the fine received by Mohammad Ashraful for slapping a spectator, it seems that the Bangladeshi captain is not the only cricketer with a tendency to let his palms do the talking! Never far from controversy these days, Harbhajan Singh has just been suspended pending an inquiry into claims he slapped Sree Santh during a recent IPL game between Mumbai Indians and the Kings XI Punjab team.

According to the BBC, "TV pictures showed Santh crying at the end of the game, which his side won." Bless.

Sreesanth escapes huge no ball

Is it really possible to bowl a no ball by the amount that Sreesanth bowled it, and not realise? He was already fined half his match fee for his shoulder brush with Vaughan, but I would argue that was the lesser incident of the two. Everyone that has ever bowled knows that you just pull out of your run up if you are going to bowl a no ball by that amount - it is not possible to over step by that much without it being deliberate in my opinion.

You would have thought that with so many ex-players involved in the administration of the game, one of them might have pointed this out?

Sreesanth, Santh, or Srisanth?

I like to concern myself with the really important matters that effect world cricket (incidentally, should that be effect or affect?), so I couldn't help but wonder why one of the Indian bowlers appears to have 3 names.

Sreesanth on Cricinfo
Santh on BBC
Srisanth in an Indian article I saw

The poor fellow must feel a little put out that people can't get his name right. Whatever his name is, his profile on Cricinfo is here.