Vaas and Randiv called up as injury cover for WC final !

Injury concerns over Muttiah Muralitharan and Angelo Mathews have forced the Sri Lankan team to call up Chaminda Vaas and Suraj Randiv as standbys ahead of the World Cup final against India on April 2. Vaas and Randiv will reach Mumbai on Thursday evening, and will be available for an emergency swap into the side if necessary, pending approval from the ICC.


Muralitharan has struggled with niggles through the course of the tournament, including a hamstring injury, a side strain, a troublesome knee and a groin issue. There was speculation that he would be rested for the semi-final against New Zealand in a bid to allow him time to be fully fit for the final. Muralitharan, however, played in the semi-final in Colombo, despite not being in the best physical condition. The final, if he plays in it, will be Muralitharan's last international game.


Trevor Bayliss, the team's coach, was confident about Muralitharan's availability for the game. "Chances are good that Murali will play," he said. "He completed ten overs in the semi-final, and such is the character of the man that he will play even with discomfort."


Mathews left the field during the semi-final with a minor injury to the thigh when Sri Lanka were fielding, and was visibly hampered for movement when he later came out to bat with a runner. Mathews has played a crucial role in Sri Lanka's campaign, both as a back-up seamer and in the middle order, and his versatility will be tough to substitute.


Left-arm seamer Vaas, 37, last played an last international game in July 2009, and hasn't featured in an ODI since August 2008. He was contemplating retirement following his omission from the original World Cup squad. Offspinner Randiv was a regular member of Sri Lanka's limited-overs' side last year, but missed out on a World Cup spot to Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis, who were picked ahead of him as the spinners to support Muralitharan.


But What we hope is that both Muttiah Muralitharan and Angelo Mathews will be fit to play as they are the most valuable players (other than Kumar, Mahela and Lasith Malinga) that no body could ever do what they contribute as a player to the team.

World cup 2011 Sri Lanka and India current team statistics

World cup 2011 Sri Lanka and India team statistics - Not Much Difference Either !


Sri Lanka Team


Top Batsmens

T M Dilshan         -  467 Runs
Kumar Sangakkara    -  417 Runs 
Upul Tharanga       -  393 Runs 

............................................

Top Bowlers

M Muralitharan      -  15 Wickets
Lasith Malinga      -  11 Wickets
Ajantha Mendis      -  7 Wickets
T M Dilshan         -  7 Wickets
Anjelo Mathews      -  6 Wickets


............................................

Other Batsmens

Mahela Jayawardena  -  201 Runs
Anjelo Mathews      -  94  Runs + 6 Wickets
T Samaraweera       -  89  Runs
Chamara Silva       -  77  Runs

............................................


Other Bowlers

Kulasekara          -  5 Wickets
Thisara Perrera     -  6 Wickets
Rangana Herath      -  3 Wickets


Sri Lanka might play Thisara Perrera instead of Chamara Silva as Thisara's Performance against India is excellent in past. Kulasekara also might come in for Rangana, if the pitch looks good for seamers but it's better to go with 3 full time spinners.

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Indian Team 

Top Batsmens

Sachin Tendulkar   -  464 Runs
V Sehwag           -  380 Runs
Yuvraj Singh       -  341 Runs 
G Gambir           -  296 Runs
..............................

Top Bowlers

Z Khan             -  19 Wickets 
M Patel            -  13 Wickets
Yuvraj Singh       -  13 Wickets
Harbhajan Singh    -  8 Wickets

..............................

Other Batsmens

V Kohli            -  247 Runs
M S Dhoni          -  150 Runs
S Raina            -  74  Runs
Y Pathan           -  74  Runs


..............................

Other Bowlers

R Aswin            -  4 Wickets
A Nehra            -  3 Wickets
P Chawla           -  4 Wickets



They are likely to play with same team that played with Pakistan but sometime Aswin
may come in for Nehra and sometimes Y Pathan for Raina.

So What is the difference between two ? 

Not Much at all but in batting India is bit ahead of Sri Lanka considering that they have 4 inform batsmen  where as Sri Lanka has only 3 but in Bowling Sri Lanka is far ahead with wicket taking bowlers (even the part time 2 bowlers are wicket takers!) but Sri Lanka will have a problem If Anjelo doesnt play... because neither Thisarra nor Vaas / Randiv could do what he does with both bat and bowl for the team in very crucial moments... but the team that make few mistakes compared to the other will lift the World Cup 2011.

2011 world cup leading run scorers wicket takers for Sri Lanka and India

Current Leading Run Scorers and Wicket Takers in World Cup 2011

Currently T M Dilshan leads the batting table while Afridi heads the bowling table

Leading run scorers in World Cup 2011. given below is the top leading in both tables.

Player	Mat	Inns.	NO	Runs	HS	Avg.	Balls	SR	100	50	4s	6s
Tilakratne Dilshan	8	8	1	467	144	66.71	502	93.02	2	2	58	4
Jonathan Trott	7	7	0	422	92	60.28	522	80.84	0	5	28	0
Kumar Sangakkara	8	7	3	417	111	104.25	488	85.45	1	3	39	5
Upul Tharanga	8	8	2	393	133	65.50	452	86.92	2	1	52	2
Sachin Tendulkar	7	7	0	379	120	54.14	395	95.94	2	1	39	8
AB de Villiers	5	5	1	353	134	88.25	326	108.28	2	1	31	7
Virender Sehwag	6	6	0	342	175	57.00	283	120.84	1	1	40	7
Yuvraj Singh	7	6	3	341	113	113.66	395	86.32	1	4	37	3
Andrew Strauss	7	7	0	334	158	47.71	357	93.55	1	1	34	3
Brad Haddin	7	6	0	332	88	55.33	421	78.85	0	4	40	5

Leading Wicket Takers

Player	Mat	Ov.	Mdns	Runs	Wickets	BB	Avg	Econ
Shahid Afridi	7	64.3	4	225	21	5/16	10.71	3.48
Tim Southee	8	72.2	9	312	18	3/13	17.33	4.31
Zaheer Khan	7	61.4	1	276	17	3/20	16.23	4.47
Robin Peterson	7	56.0	5	238	15	4/12	15.86	4.25
Muttaiah Muralitharan	8	63.0	1	252	14	4/25	16.80	4.00
Imran Tahir	5	39.3	2	150	14	4/38	10.71	3.79
Umar Gul	7	52.3	5	203	14	3/30	14.50	3.86
Kemar Roach	6	46.0	2	195	13	6/27	15.00	4.23
Bret Lee	7	54.2	6	235	13	4/28	18.07	4.32
Harvir Baidwan	6	55.0	3	307	13	3/35	23.61	5.58