It’s been a long event for most, very long for some, thanks to the 30 year-tradition of this tournament — playing around for a month across various cities before meeting in the best-of-three finals.

But within this decaying concept of cricket scheduling, lies the birth of a new cricket team.

For a few bubbling careers, there’s nothing more potent than success in the finals, beating Australia. The confidence in the team has grown from their success in the previous game and from Australia’s defeat last night.

It’s been a long series, jumping from one match to the other, one controversy to the other, but hopefully, a packed Sydney Cricket Ground will subdue the little chit-chat that’s bound to be a part of this three-match final.

Matthew Hayden, rested, dropped or merely disciplined against Sri Lanka, is set to be back in the XI as the Australian batting line-up searches for the form that piled up 317 against India in their previous meeting here — a match that India lost by 18 runs despite a big fightback. Memories of the pitch will indicate that the skipper winning the toss wouldn’t hesitate to bat first.

The toss will be crucial — a chase under lights could be tricky. The Indian seam department has been fantastic throughout, but the slowdown of the wicket as the game progresses will weigh on the mind of Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has just one specialist spinner in Harbhajan Singh (Piyush Chawla is still waiting for his big chance).

... contd.