Clash Amongst Clashes

Is this a World Cup Final? Is it a much awaited Ashes? Is it a India Pakistan Final? One can ask as many questions to demean the importance of this IPL final. The stage is set for two titans to play around 4 hours of nerve breaking cricket and decide who is better amongst them. 
Well, on one hand, we have an excellent young cricketer who is finding his way to glory by taking one small step at a time. However, the pace of taking those steps has been exceptional and quite stark to the conventional approach.
Where as on the other, we have a great great grandmaster of the sport. A true ambassador of the sport, the genius little master whose talent has awestruck almost every barring a few publicity mongers who crave to get a miniscule bit of the fame by criticizing this demi-god of Indian cricket.
This final is nothing close to the tension built up by the media before a world cup final or a much awaited India-Pakistan final in a not-so-important tournament.
However, this match means much more to Sachin fans as they have awaited their hero to lead from the front and achieve the glory. His soft-spoken nature has often been highlighted as the bad to have quality in a captain and has been seen as the major reason for his failure as a captain.
Whereas Dhoni has enjoyed the well deserved tag of Captain Cool and when required he has proved his stature as a captain and as a player. He has been the hard task master and has displayed all the traits of a perfect captain.
This year's IPL has been a turn around for Sachin, both as a player as well as a captain. He has adapted to the shorter version of the game and has shown that talent is the pre-requisite to succeed in any format. However, his effort to redeem himself as a player doesn't surprise anyone to a large extent. This was inevitable and was bound to happen. A player of his caliber will figure out the key to success at some point of time, be it Test, ODIs or T20.
The surprising part is, Sachin's role as a captain has been the sole reason for Mumbai Indians stron show. All the hurdles have been overcome with a thumping performance and the authority enjoyed by this team is a rare thing to see in shorter format of the game. With all, due respect to Dhoni, this year's Cup deserves to go to Mumbai Indian's cabinet. In  the future, I would like IPL to follow English Premier League's pattern where a consistent showing over the entire season is the criteria to win the league rather than an odd over or a out-of world performance from a single player seals the fate.
Wish you luck Sachin! Go Get It