Cricket needs this finale

We've had so much of Twenty20 action in the last three odd months that the final of the World Cup at Lords will be anticipated by most for both relief as much as for an end to a long continuing saga of skill,money,entertainment and most of all cricket in itself-something that might not be in today's "slam bang thank you mam" terms as important as the others but indispensable to keep them running nevertheless.

Why Sunday's final is important to this non stop T20 action,which started out right from the time IPL-2 went under way is also because of one very special reason.It is going to be a match pitting two teams from the sub continent that were torn apart mid way through an on going series.As a matter of fact an on-going match.The Lankans were on their way to a test victory riding on Samaraweera's double ton and Mendis's first go on Pakistani soil in tests.The Pakistanis were fast losing credibility as a bankable team,better yet trustable hosts.After the Lahore attacks,both these nations had unfinished business in various degrees to tend to.

How time catches up.

Sri Lanka have almost rummaged through teams this season on their way to the final on the 21st while the Pakistanis-besides probably the semis to some extent,have had a roller coaster ride,as has been their cricket story in the last 2 years.Players failing dope tests like they were taken straight out of sleazy pubs,bowling actions going wrong,management turmoils and so on.

The Lahore attacks have made them a certainty for at least the next year or so to not host a major tournament on their soil,for no nation would be willing to field their players,worried more about how they'd make it back to their hotels safely without having to see themselves or a mate blow apart with their team buses.

What that incident did do was set fire in the belly of one of the most underrated and the most dangerous cricket playing nations.Diplomatically and monetarily hurt enough on the world stage,the one thing that the Pakistanis do hold very dearly to their heart,as do all sub continental teams is cricket.It wasn't something they wanted anyone to take away from them just as one thing after another was being snatched away or forsaken by them under pressure or willingly either around the border or to the union of 50 states some 7000 miles to the east.

Sri Lanka on the other hand were traumatized.More physically yet even more so mentally.Theirs is also a nation traumatized by wars and naxalites.Sri Lanka is also a nation that doesn't have much to boast about than their cricket.And god help those who were going to stop them from playing it with mere bombs and bullets.More than pride and glory to redeem,the Lankans are trying to ascertain yet again of their weight on the global stage as a powerful cricketing nation that can win games away from home,as small a format as it might be.

The Pakistanis have no choice but to force the impression on the nations that do comprise the entity that is the ICC,that theirs is a respectable unit and a singular unfortunate event shouldn't end any chance of further negotiations for an international event to be held on their turfs.For this,they seem determined to go any distance.And that is good for cricket,if not merely for the confidence of the 11 men who comprise the squad on a given day.

Sunday's event is going to be huge.Given the intricacies of how things have unraveled,and considering Afridi has already played out his all his luck for the entire year against the Africans,the Lankans shouldn't have much of a problem lifting the cup and being T20 world cup winners for 2009.

But considering it's going to be Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka,it's any body's guess who the real winner is.

For the time being,let's just take it to be cricket itself.