Watch Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka T20 Final June 21 Live

The two remaining Asian teams, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will face each other in the finals of the second edition of the ICC World T20 at Lord's on Sunday. This was after Pakistan shocked South Africa in the first semi-finals at Trent Bridge and Sri Lanka routed West Indies in the second game at Oval in London.

Spin will be a factor that would play a rather huge role in this game, with both teams loaded with spinners who have the quality and the wherewithal to take the game away from the opposition. If Sri Lanka possesses the magic of Ajantha Mendis and Muthiah Muralitharan, then Pakistan is not far behind with the presence of Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal, both of whom have mesmerised the opposition batsmen no ends.

To add to the similarities, Pakistan then possesses a very accurate death-bowler in Umar Gul, but their opponents in the final negate that effect by having a Lasith Malinga whose yorker-length bowling is a must-have in this format of the game.

Thus, where the two teams differ in their bowling department is the support-staff; Pakistan has a rather nippy bowler in Mohammad Aamer who can do damage with his short stuff, while Isuru Udana and Angelo Matthews are anything but fast, but possess enough tricks in their bag to make the batsmen go round. Mathews' three wickets in the first over of the West Indian inning in the semi-final would remain fresh in his mind and will go a long way in boosting his confidence.

Hence, it will be rather easy to conclude that the basic difference between the two sides would be their batting. And with the return to form of Shahid Afridi, there isn't much to choose from even there. Kamran Akmal looks like he could match the in-form T. Dilshan shot-for-shot, if not for longevity, while Younus Khan and Kumar Sangakkara are from similar moulds of batting; both can hit the big shots but eschew them till it is obviously and absolutely necessary.

The one worry though, for Sri Lanka would be the absolute of run of bad form of Sanath Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya failed to get going in the semi-finals - much like a lot of other cricketers - but what was worse was the fact that he barely got his timing through most part of his inning. His counterpart opener in Shahzaib Hasan did not have a great semi-final, but the couple of games leading up to that were decent enough for him to get another run.

All in all, the contest looks too close to call, and both Sri Lanka and Pakistan look equally armed to win the title; it could just boil down to who wants to win it more badly.
Teams:-

PAK :-

Younus Khan(c), Misbah-Ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal(wk), Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Abdul Razzaq, Shahzaib Hasan, Mohammad Aamer, Fawad Alam, Saeed Ajmal, Iftikhar Anjum, Shoaib Akhtar

Sri lanka:-

KC Sangakkara(c)(wk), DPMD Jayawardene, ST Jayasuriya, TM Dilshan, KMDN Kulasekara, M Muralitharan, LPC Silva, J Mubarak, AD Mathews, T Thushara, BAW Mendis, I Udana, SL Malinga, Indika De Saram, MF Maharoof