Stats: Consistent Lanka vs dangerous Pak

Sri Lanka and Pakistan will contest the all-important ICC World Twenty20 final at Lord's on Sunday. There is very little to choose between the two sides. While Sri Lanka is the most consistent side in the tournament (they haven't lost a single match), Pakistan can be labelled as vastly improved and the most dangerous side. Sri Lanka registered a comfortable 19-run win over Pakistan in their Super Eight match, but since then Pakistan have raised their standard in all departments by several notches and it will be a different ball game all altogether on Sunday.

Sri Lanka have performed better than Pakistan both in batting and bowling, though only marginally in the Championship so far. But Pakistan have played lesser dot balls and have taken singles, doubles and three runs more frequently than Sri Lanka while the latter have got more boundaries.

On the bowling front, Sri Lanka have bowled more dot balls and conceded fewer singles, doubles and three runs while Pakistan have conceded fewer boundaries.

The Lankans have the edge in first 10 overs, but Pakistan forge ahead between overs 11 to 15. In the final five overs both teams have almost identical record, however Sri Lanka have scored their runs more quickly than Pakistan.

Batting in different phases of the game:

Sri Lanka have conceded fewer runs per wicket and per over in the power play overs, but Pakistan have performed better between 7th and 10th overs. Sri Lanka have an edge over Pakistan in the third phase, that is between over no. 11 and 15. But Pakistan's performance towards the end of the innings (between over no. 16 and 20) is exemplary.

Sri Lanka will be hoping that their opening pair of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya will once again click for them. In six games so far, these two have added 300 runs.

Contribution of first five wickets for the two teams:

Sri Lanka is a "top-heavy" side and relies too much on Tillakaratne Dilshan, who is in form of his life and scoring runs at his will. With 317 runs Dilshan is the highest run-scorer in the tournament and Sri Lanka will be hoping that law of averages does not catches with him at this crucial juncture. Dilshan's success with the bat, though, has taken away the attention from the ordinary batting display by other Sri Lankans (excepting Jayawardene). In fact the bottom half of Sri Lankan batting line-up has hardly made any significant contribution.

For Pakistan no one has even aggregated 200 runs in the tournament, but all top-order batsmen have made useful contributions and their tail is definitely more capable of scoring runs than their counterparts.

Leading run-scorers:

Leading run-scorers:

The bowling strength of these two sides is almost identical. Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis are Sri Lanka's most successful bowlers with Muralitharan,Mathews and Udana giving them good support. For Pakistan Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal have done most of the damage and have got good support from Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Aamer.

Leading wicket-takers:

Leading wicket-takers: