World Cup Betting / Ralph Ellis / 31 March 2011 /

There are two perfect scripts waiting to be written when India and Sri Lanka meet on Saturday but only one can materialise. Sachin Tendulkar versus Muttiah Muralitharan will be a key battle within the ultimate battle.

It was always the most romantic World Cup script that India would win the trophy and Sachin Tendulkar score his 100th international century in the final. Fifteen years after the Little Master dominated a World Cup in his home country, only for his team to lose to Sri Lanka in the semi-final, what better way for him to bow out from the competition by avenging that disappointment?

It would seem that Betfair's punters love that good story line.Yesterday's 29 run win over Pakistan has seen India become [1.65] favourites for Saturday's meeting with Sri Lanka in Mumbai. And you can be sure that by the time the first ball is bowled, Tendulkar will be a pretty short price to score that ton.

Bet beware of getting too entranced by the obvious. There is a second sentimental story running in the Sri Lankan camp and it could be every bit as compelling.
Saturday's final will also be the last time Muttiah Muralitharan turns his arm over in a One Day International, and within his dressing room the desire to bring a perfect ending to the career of one of cricket's most colourful and sometimes controversial spinners is every bit as strong as India's wish for Sachin to inspire.

Murali took his 800th wicket as Sri Lanka completed a fairly comfortable semi-final win over New Zealand, and in a tournament where the slow bowlers have often been the most effective it will bring something to the final that India can't match in the shape of a prolific wicket-taker. Ally that to the sheer brute pace of Lasith Malinga and the Sri Lankans have had arguably the most versatile World Cup attack, one that even the free-hitting duo of Virender Sehwag won't enjoy trying to score quick runs from.

Muralitharan is dragging his 38-year-old body through the last stages of a tiring tournament, and is having round-the-clock treatment to wheel him out to play on Saturday. But there's little doubt he'll make it, and little doubt he'll be the player to put the brakes on India during the crucial middle spell of their innings.

As batting star Tillakaratne Dilshan warns in his BBC on-line column today: "Our team is determined to give Murali, a great team player, a great friend and a special man, a great farewell by winning the World Cup."

Sri Lanka also won't put down the sort of soft catches that Pakistan did, dropping Tendulkar four times on his way to yesterday's match winning innings of 85. And in Dilshan, currently three runs ahead of the Little Master with 467 for the tournament, yet a tempting [2.52] to be the World Cup's top run scorer while Tendulkar is [2.33] favourite, they have another potential match winner.

Yes, I know that India's Zaheer Khan is a good bet at [2.42] to get the three wickets he needs to overtake Shahid Afridi as top bowler. But you wonder whether, as happened in 1996, the pressure of a huge home crowd might turn out to be too much.
India at home and Tendulkar's ton remains the romantic tale. Sri Lanka and Murali might just be the route for the realists.

Five things you might not know about Suresh Raina

1.Born November 1986 in Muradnagar, Uttar Pradesh, he was the youngest of five children. He has since bought his parents a bungalow in Ghaziabad

2.Picked to join a government backed Uttar Pradesh sports college, he was age 15 when he was selected for India's Under 19 team to tour England

3 That earned him a place to train at the Australian Cricket Academy. When he went home in 2005 he scored 620 in six matches to help Uttar Pradesh win the Ranji Trophy

4. He was innocently caught up in cricket's match fixing scandal when a lady who visited him in a hotel turned out to have links to a Sri Lankan bookmaker. The Indian cricket authorities completely cleared his name

5.In July last year he hit 120 against Sri Lanka on his Test debut, becoming the 12th Indian and 88th cricketer in all to achieve that feat

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