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YUVRAJ READY FOR FINAL ACT

BIG HITTER: Yuvraj Singh

Monday September 24,2007

By Colin Bateman

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HIS father is a Bollywood star and there is certainly something of the showman about Yuvraj Singh, whether he is swaggering to the wicket or simply talking a good game.

“An India-Pakistan final is a dream come true and all the world will be watching,” pronounced Yuvraj with not the slightest hint of self-consciousness about his flight of hyperbole.

But that is Twenty20 cricket. A bit flash, outrageous at times and enormously entertaining – and players like Yuvraj, the Indian batsman who hit six sixes in an over by Stuart Broad last week and destroyed Australia’s bowlers in Saturday’s semi-final, are perfect for it.

Perhaps not quite the whole world will be watching today’s first 20-over World Cup final, but certainly a sizeable chunk of it.

It is a final made in heaven for cricket’s new game. India and Pakistan are the world’s two fiercest cricket rivals, whose supporters burn effigies for fun and can be driven to suicide by defeat.

They have never met before in the final of a global one-day competition and along the way in South Africa have both proved themselves by beating Australia. Even when they met in the first-round stage, drama ensued when they played out Twenty20’s first tied match, India winning in a bowl-out.

The Wanderers Ground in Johannesburg is known as the Bullring, such is its hostile atmosphere. And this afternoon it will be reverberating with passion and tension.

“You won’t get a bigger match than this,” said Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “A world cup final, India v Pakistan at Johannesburg. It should be very exciting, the pressure will be immense, one of the matches that needs to be played with intensity.”

Both sides are blessed with extravagant talent, but no player has captured the imagination over the past two weeks quite like 26-year-old Yuvraj.

Yuvraj, whose father Yograj played one Test before deciding his talents were better suited to the screen, was kept under wraps for most of last summer’s India Test tour. But England certainly know about his one-day ability.

His exploits against England last Wednesday included a 12-ball 50, the fastest half-century made in international cricket. On Saturday evening he blasted 70 runs off the Australian attack in 30 balls to set up his team’s 15-run victory. One of his sixes was measured at 119 yards, putting him in first place for the ‘longest hit of the tournament’.

India have made it without their galacticos, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, and in their absence younger talent has blossomed.

Skipper Dhoni said: “The way we have performed without them is amazing. The pressure will be immense in Jo’burg, but my team try to play without fear.”

For Pakistan, who destroyed New Zealand by six wickets in their semi-final on Saturday, the tournament has provided new coach Geoff Lawson with a perfect start after his appointment as the replacement for Bob Woolmer.

He said: “We have bowled superbly in every match and there are quality cricketers in this team. We are the only undefeated side in the tournament and whatever happens tomorrow, it will be close.”