When India and Sri Lanka taken to the field for tomorrow’s Cricket World Cup final in Mumbai they will bring the curtain down on a tournament that has had everything. The most intriguing sub plot of them all may well have been saved for the final itself though.
Two of the finest proponents on each side of the ball will go into battle as Muttiah Muralitharan attempts to outwit “the little magician” Sachin Tendulkar. It’s the first time that two teams from the subcontinent have met in a World Cup Final and we should be thankful that the best two teams made the final. Granted Tendulkar received a helping hand, or hands, from Pakistan in the semi final but India were the better side.
In terms of betting on the controversial semi final, it certainly seems the authorities nipped much of it in the bud.
MSN India reported that Mohali Police spokesman Kushnar Saurabh said, “We knew that the match between India and Pakistan would be a tough contest and the town”s bookies would be placing crores of rupees on it.
“Surveillance of mobile phones of over 100 people, suspected of having links with betting gangs, started two days prior to the face-off played yesterday and their activities were kept under vigilance.”
The crackdown will continue ahead of the final match and India will still be wishing they’d put something in place to benefit from sports betting on the tournament.
Back to the cricket though, and if India performs to their best then we could be in with one hell of a contest. If they don’t then the contest between Murali and Sachin is likely to be key. With the opportunity to bow out on quite the high, you wouldn’t put it past the Sri Lanka taking the impetus and getting a quick victory. Having been this unpredictable so far you wouldn’t deny the World Cup one final twist.
